Dept. of Political Science and Public Administration - Ph.D. / Sc.D.
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Item Open Access The role of women in the formation of civil society in post-1980 Turkey(Bilkent University, 1993) Çaha, ÖmerThis study aims to draw a theoretical discussion on the features of the Turkish feminist groups and their contributions to the development of civil society in post-1980 Turkey. It has been reached to the conclusion that Turkish feminist groups have created a new set of politics in Turkey through the success of changing many women's and men's thinking. Through the focus on conciseness raising, on non- oppressive relations between man and woman, on creating a counter-culture and alternative institutions, Turkish feminist groups have represented a new politics in Turkey. Turkish feminist groups have incorporated into particular as well as universal discourses. With respect to their particular discourses feminist groups serve for the aims of the Turkish state. However, With respect to the common discourses which they share with their Western counterparts they constitute a substantial element of civil society in Turkey. These discourses are particular to their own interest as well as differentiate feminist women from the "man-like" generation of the women who once served for the aims of the Republican Turkey.Item Open Access The state and bar associations in Turkey: a study in interest-group politics(Bilkent University, 1995) Özman, A. AylinThis study focuses on the state - bar association interface in Turkey. Bar associations are among the oldest professional associations in Turkey, dating back to the late Ottoman era. While conducting an historical analysis concerning the institutionalization of attorneyship as a profession, bar associations are analyzed as interest groups. Throughout the study, the judicio-legal sphere has been taken as the main arena of interface between bar associations and the state. The nature of the Turkish State, its extent of dominance within the judicio-legal sphere, and the institutionalization level of the bar associations have been perceived as the main determinants of the nature of the relationship in question. The study looks at the developments from the Tanzimat (Reform) Period of the late Ottoman period (1839-1876) to the present. It is concluded that the Turkish State has always had a superordinate position vis-a-vis the bar associations. The dominance of the State in the judicio-legal sphere has shaped the identity and goals of the bar associations, too. In their education and practice, attorneys came to be socialized into the norms of the state. This made bar associations impatient with their subordinate position vis-a-vis the state. Their dissatisfaction grew as bar associations were further institutionalized; the conflict between the latter associations and the state became more tense.Item Open Access Kemalist modernism and the genesis of Turkish traditionalist conservatism(Bilkent University, 1996) İrem, Celal NazımThis study focuses on the political and philosophical significance of the dialogue between Kemalism and the nouveaux traditionalist conservative circle which emerged from within the modernist Republican elites. The circle was shaped at the crossroads of ismail HakkI Baltac1oglu's traditionalism, Peyami Safa's conservatism, Ahmet Agaoglu's personalism, Hilmi Ziya Olken's moralism and Mustafa Sekip Turn;'s Bergsonism. Throughout the study, Turkish traditionalist conservatism has been conceptualized as an historically unique philosophical and political movement. In this respect, the study deviated from the prevailing tendency to relate "conservatism" with the mode of socialization and/or political aspirations of the descending classes and/or groups in an all encompassing modernization process. Turkish traditionalist conservatism has provided an alternative understanding of modernism, which at the same time safeguarded and legitimized Kemalist institutions and structures. This understanding of modernism can be read through concepts formulated in the works of the circle concerned, for the explication of the Kemalist status quo. This body of literature was collected in the books of the intellectuals mentioned above and their writings on politics, philosophy, sociology, arts and literature, published in various journals, such as Kultiir Haftas1, Yeni Adam and insan. Apart from the fact that this group of intellectuals was priviliged as being a part of the Kemalist ruling cadre, the significance of Turkish traditionalist conservatism lies in the diffusion of its conceptual matrix to the legitimizing grounds for the political actors at various stages of Turkish political history. It is concluded that, by providing the conceptual matrix for legitimizing Kemalism with all its political, cultural and economic institutions within the process of nation-state building, this political and philosophical stand has marked the emergence of a state-centered conservative circle within the ranks of modernist-secular Republican intelligentsia.Item Open Access The state and intellectual in Turkey: between liberal ethos and the myth of democracy(Bilkent University, 1997) Coşar, SimtenThis study analyzes the liberal discourse in the Republican Turkey with a view to shedding light on the state-intellectual relationship. The aim is to elaborate the reasons for the lack of an intellectual tradition of liberalism in Turkey, The answer is searched in the historical unfolding of the state-intellectual relationship within a state dominant, ever-modernizing context. The bulk of the study has been shaped by the periodization beginning from the foundation of the Turkish Republic and extending throughout the 1990s. The Ottoman period, especially, the Tanzimat era (1839-1876) has been examined with the aim of providing an historical background. The emergence of a liberal identity in different periods, has been analyzed in relation to the problématique that shaped the intellectual discourse in different periods, namely modernization, democratization, and liberalization. In the study the state-opposition pendulum has been taken as the clue to gain an understanding of the impasse that the Turkish liberal intellectual has experienced. In this respect, it is concluded that the liberal intellectual in Turkey has always had to walk on a tightrope between the premises that fed his intellectual matrix and his self-identification with the state. His quest for liberty and salvation of the individual from m the constraints of the state was inspired by the West. Yet, due to his concern for the state he has had to construct the ideal individual which turned his liberal agenda into a project.Item Open Access Regionalism as a failure of national integration: a case study of Italy(Bilkent University, 1998) Avcı (Güney), AylinThis thesis analyzes Italian regionalism in a historical context. The evolution of regionalism as a result of the failure of national integration in Italy will be discussed in different time spans that are deemed critical in Italian political life. The thesis will elaborate on the historical and structural factors such as the localist culture, the presence of the Church, the North-South divide that acted as an obstacle on the way to a successful national integration. Finally, the interplay of these forces during the unification, the fascist and post-fascist periods will be analyzed with regard to the national integration process. The thesis will aim to address the following questions: (1) Given that neoregionalism in Italy is not a new phenomena, what are the reasons or the structural factors that had caused the persistence of regionalism in Italy despite the attempts to create a unified country? (2) How did the Italian state try to make the Italians? What kind of integration model was used to provide the integration and to what extent was it able to overcome the duality between the North and the South? (3) What is the nature of the neoregionalism in Italy, is it a result of the failure of 'making Italians?' and to what extent does it pose a threat to the national unity of the country? It is concluded that the rise of neo-regionalism in Italy can not be explained only by the old and more recent theories on regionalism without taking into consideration the sui generis historical background of the problem of regionalism in that country.Item Open Access Political party elites and the breakdown of democracy: the Turkish case,1973-1980(Bilkent University, 1998) Demirel, TanelThis study aims to analyze the behavior of Turkish political party elites during the 1973-1980 period. It is particularly concerned with the extent to which political party elites seemed to have contributed to the breakdown of Turkish democracy in 1980. It starts from the assumption that breakdown of democracies is not determined by structural factors alone, however important they might be. Political actors, particularly those who professed commitment to a democratic regime, have a space for manuevre so as to lessen the unfavourable effects of these structures. It is argued that trials and tribulations of the Turkish democracy can be understood better if they are examined within the broader social-political framework in which it evolved, a framework which has both generated constraints and provided opportunities for political actors. At its simplest, that broader framework can be said to have consisted of the complex encounter and interaction of Ottoman-Turkish strong state tradition and traditional social structure undergoing modernisation process. It is concluded that, although the interaction in question did not create particularly favourable soil for democracy to flourish, it certainly did not mean that democracy was doomed to fail in the 1980. Political party elites did have room for manuevre so as to affect the constraining conditions and to enhance the efficacy, effectiveness and therefore legitimacy of the democratic regime. The principal argument of the thesis is that political party elites, far from taking such a course of action, through their actions and non-actions -particularly their reactions to problem of terrorism and economic crisishave done much to undermine the belief in the democratic system and paved the way to its breakdown in 1980.Item Open Access The republican character of Islamism in Turkey from the perspective of 'the political'(Bilkent University, 1998) Çınar, MenderesThis dissertation is an exploratory research that critically reviews the existing approaches to Islamism so as to evaluate their suitability and effectiveness and to suggest an altemative framework to approach Islamism. Islamism is primarily a political movement about the fundamentals of the society rather than a religious movement. Studying Islamismin terms of its religiosity, in terms of its modernity and in terms of its different civilizational outlook is not explanatory as far as its political aspects are concemed. Therefore, Islamism could be better comprehended if studied on political grounds and in relation to the context within which it emerges. This dissertation considers Islamism not in terms of its substance, which is Islamisation, but in terms of its alternative structuration of politics and in terms of its vision of state society relationship. The definition of concept of "the political" is central part of the alternative framework. A structuration of political sphere is determined by the underlying mode of societal integration. Although mixtures are possible, there are basically two modes of integration: liberal and republican. When viewed from this perspective it becomes apparent that the National Outlook Movement' s Islamİst opposition to Kemalist Westernization is accompanied by a gramınatical similarity, i.e. the structuration of the legitimate sphere of politics. Despite their substantive differences, both Kemalism and Islamism resemble each other grammatically and, as far as their structuration(s) of politics concerned, belong to the same family of republicanism.Item Open Access Social democracy in Turkey in a comparative setting(Bilkent University, 1998) Sancar, Malike SelcukThis dissertation is a systematic in-depth analysis of social democracy in Turkey, with particular reference to Western Europe. The research develops a framework for the analysis of social democracy in Western Europe and Turkey in a comparative setting. Whereas the origins and development of the social democratic parties in Western Europe have been explored in the formative phase of the Industrial society in Europe, the birth and the evolution of Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) have been scrutinised in the First Turkish Republic, as grounding to the structural conjuncture prevailing within the relevant cases. Accordingly, the analysis of the social democratic parties in these polities have been carried out on the basis of ideology, social basis of support, strategy and organisation respectively. Therefrom, the status of social democracy in Turkey is evaluated while holding the Western European case as the reference. In this context, the extent to which Turkish social democracy diverges from the homeland of social democracy has been elucidated.Item Open Access The nature of the relationship between religious communities and civil society in Turkey : the case of the Fethullah Gulen community(Bilkent University, 1998) Başkan, FilizThis thesis addresses the question as to whether or not religious communities can be defined as part civil societal organization within the context of democratization efforts in Turkey. The Fethullah Gülen Community will be the case study of this thesis. Theoretical debate on civil society will be examined to provide an insight into the relations between religious communities and civil society and to clarify the basic definition of "civil society." The historical background of modern Turkey, that is, the Ottoman Empire will be analyzed with the objective of shedding light on the question of civil society debate in modern Turkey. The thesis will also present the historical context in which Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and Nurculuk emerged. The analysis of Said Nursi will provide important insights to understand the Fethullah Gülen Community, one branch of the Nurculuk. Finally, this thesis will dwell on the Fethullah Gülen Community in relation to the notion of civil society and conclude that it cannot be defined as part of civil society in the ideal sense of the term.Item Open Access Search for an ethno-secular delimitation of Turkish national identity in the Kemalist era (1924-1938) with particular reference to the ethnicist conception of Kemalist nationalism(Bilkent University, 1998) Yıldız, AhmetThis study deals with the search for the creation of an ethno- secular Turkish national identity with particular reference to the ethnicist conception of Kemalist nationalism espoused by a group of bureaucratic- intellectual elites over three distinct periods in the years between 1919- 1938 with an historical perspective. In the period of 1919-1924, nationality was defined by religion, and hence, Turkish national identity had a predominantly religious character. As a reflection of this state of "forced" pluralism, official political discourse considered ethnic diversity as a given social condition. In the second period (1924-1929), a radical rupture from the religious definition occurred with the adoption of Republicanism consisting of legal and political components. The legal component of the republican definition was overwhelmed by its political component, however. The motto of this definition was the "unity in language, culture and ideal" The third period (1929-1938) of the delimitation of Turkish national identity in the Kemalist era was characterised by the efforts of a group of bureaucratic-intellectual elites who adopted the ethnicist conception of Kemalist nationalism to articulate racial motives, which defined national community at the basis of Turkish ethnie and structured around the sense of common origin, into the republican definition. The symbolic reflection of this articulation was the motto of the "unity in language, culture and blood" The emergent definition of "ethno-secular Turkish man" within the evolution of the parameters of Turkish national identity during the Kemalist era(1924-1938) was that the complete, genuine, or pure Turk was the one who embraced the cause of the Republican ideal, devoted to Westernised Turkish culture, spoke Turkish and descended from Turkish origin. Those who lacked any of the said parameters had to be compensated for. Aloofness to religiosity, the adoption of Turkish not only as official language but also as the mother-tongue, devotion to the monolithically defined Westernised Turkish culture intermixed with the political ideal preached by the new Republic, and the attainment of purity and strength of race were the suggested "compensators." Ethnicism and Turkification policies were the two natural corollaries of the ethnicist conception of Kemalist nationalism. Being constituted as such, the "other" of this nationalism involved religious Turks, non-Turkish Muslim ethnies, and non-Muslim minorities.Item Open Access The making and the crisis of Turkish social democracy: Roots, discourses and strategies(Bilkent University, 1999) Kahraman, Hasan BülentThe making and the crisis of social democracy in Turkey has a structural and historical context. It is also an agent of Turkish political modernisation which is an authoritarian one. In this sense it is interrelated with the constitutive ideology and the parameters of Turkey's hegemonic state discourse, namely Kemalism. The condition faced by Turkish social democracy is an outcome of the crisis of modernity started in the 1980s and in the 1990s, under such influences as postmodernism and globalisation. In order to reach the deep causes of the crisis the analysis develops both on the vertical and horizontal axis, the first encompassing the internal and the latter encircling the external conditions. As the main cause of the crisis is assumed to be the nationalist, parochial character of Turkish social democracy, and its inability in getting adopted to the new emerging conditions, the thesis, as a conclusion, develops a prospective approach drawing on the recent theories that has helped the upheaval of this political ideology in West-European countries.Item Open Access Professional veiled women: the everyday life strategies of professional Islamic women in 1990s Bursa(Bilkent University, 1999) Öztimur, NeşeThe major aim of this thesis is to examine the multiple bases on which professional, married, veiled Islamic women organize their everyday lives, and understand how do they legitimize their everyday activities with using different discourses. The professional veiled women reproduce and reformulate their gender roles and relations with regards to material necessities of everyday life and also with regards to the necessities of Islamic discourse. The professionally working veiled women legitimize or reconcile their everyday life experiences on the one hand with respect to their Islamic values, and on the other hand with their working woman status. The relationship between the social structure, Islamic discourse and individual agency is constructed by using different strategies, to cope with the necessities of everyday life. These strategies show differences according to the material well being of the Islamic women. The social class is an important factor for the transformation of Islamic discourse into a living social practice.Item Open Access The citizen of the state and the state of the citizen : an analysis of the citizenization process in Turkey(Bilkent University, 2000) Soyarık, NalanThis study deals with the construction and evolution of Turkish citizenship throughout the history of the Turkish Republic. How citizenship was defined, and which model was adopted for Turkish citizenship are the major questions. The state is taken as the major constructive actor as the modernization and citizenization process was from above in the Turkish case. Therefore, the legal documents, parliamentary debates, and studies of the prominent intellectuals on citizenship are analyzed. As the nation building and citizenization process went hand in hand in Turkey, those laws related with the construction of a Turkish national identity are also utilized. By taking the social and political developments into account as a background, the changes and shifts in the understanding of Turkish citizenship are traced. The problems Turkish citizenship encounters today has its roots in the early Republican period, where Turkish citizenship was developed from above and in a republican understanding that emphasized duties towards the state. Today there is a clash between aspirations for a more liberal understanding of citizenship and the republican citizens. In the core of the problems faced today, lies the reluctance of the state to view Turkish citizenship as a notion distinct from the quest for Kemalist modernization and official Turkish national identity.Item Open Access Civilizing process from above: culture and state in Turkey, 1923-1945(Bilkent University, 2000) Çolak, YılmazThis dissertation deals with the formation of the official notion of culture during the early Republican era (1923-1945) from a historico-political perspective. This formation reflected the civilizing process from above, directed and determined by the state. The dissertation will analyze the legal and institutional bases of the discursive formation of culture by focusing on the cultural institutions of the Republic, especially the THS and the TLS. Here, the concept of culture will be examined as inherent to the state and its project, promoting the construction of an identity. The dissertation will discuss that culture in the state discourse, overlapping all expressed through civilization, denoted the modern state of mind and way of life as a high, developed category and so came to be the name of re-ordering and re-cultivating the society, taming the people and creating future-generations. Based on a hierarchical and assimilationist understanding, it was the sole means to determine the scope of the public sphere and membership to both political and cultural community. In this sense, it is inclusionary and, at the same time, exclusionary. The Kemalist notion of culture as construction has become more and more a politically contested issue, which has put its stamp on Turkish political life.Item Open Access Transformation of Islamist political thought in Turkey from the empire to the early republic (1980-1960) : Necip Fazıl Kısakürek's political ideas(Bilkent University, 2001) Duran, BurhanettinThis thesis aims at situating the transformation of Turkish Islamist thought from the Ottoman empire to the early Republic as a case study within the contemporary analyses of Islamism. Islamist thought in Turkey contains new elements, but it also has deep roots in the tradition of Islamic political thought. As such by devotion to the traditional renewal (tajdid), it reflects a continuing dimension of Islamic political theory. It is also important to understand the specific intellectual settings within which Turkish Islamism has evolved. Islamist depictions of state and democracy whether in the Empire through Islamist identification of shura with constitutional regime or in the Republican period through Necip Fazıl Kısakürek’s totalitarian Başyücelik State, seem to be influenced by the political ideologies of their times such as liberal constitutionalism (in the Empire), and totalitarian aspects of communism, fascism, and Kemalism (in the Republic). Hence, Islamists of the second constitutional period perceived Islam a “soft ideology” whereas Islam became a kind of “hard ideology” in Kısakürek’s formulation, determining every aspect of political, societal and individual life. These analyses are also related to another argument that the tradition of Islamic political thought is open to different Islamist readings, both as authoritarian/totalitarian formulations and as democratic openings. This study also argues that Islamist intellectuals have a tendency of mixing modern notions such as progress and ideology with traditional material/grammar to face the challenge of western modernity. In order to reach an Islamic modernity, the concept of Islamic civilization constitutes a platform for the transformation and interaction of the elements of continuity (traditional grammar) and change (progress and ideology). This dissertation also suggests that Islamists are basically keen to see democracy as the limitation of an arbitrary/despotic rule and as the establishment of the rule of law, implying a rather Schumpeterian conceptualization of democracy: a type of government and procedure in electing those who rule people. The question of whether Islam is compatible with democratic values should be reworded in the way that whether Islamist interpretations/reconstructions of Islamic tradition were/are compatible with democratic values or not. This thesis also tries to give an insight about the Islamist stance towards Kemalist ideology and the impact of Kemalism on Islamism.Item Open Access Three faces of the legitimacy crisis of liberal democracy : identity, rationality and universality(Bilkent University, 2001) Barkçin, Savaş Ş.The thesis investigates the question of legitimacy crisis of liberal democracy as manifested by the processes, debates, concepts, popular demands and emerging new identities and forms of politics along the globalization phenomenon. It argues that this crisis is situated in three principal sites of the liberal theoretical and normative conceptualization: identity, rationality and universality. Then a dialogical and thematic reading is carried out among various theoretical positions in order to find out whether the current legitimacy crisis is an ephemeral or conjunctural development or rather it is a crisis which is exacerbated by the basic assumptions, modalities and configurations provided by the liberal democratic discourse. These positions are classical liberalism, the Rawlsian perspective and the communitarians, Habermas and the theory of deliberative democracy, and finally radical democracy and agonistic democracy approach within it. All these theoretical positions are critically presented and evaluated on the basis of their capacity to offer alternatives for the legitimacy crisis and for the reconstruction of the democratic legitimacy. In the final chapter, general findings, problems and prospects are introduced and certain strategies and modalities of theorization for political science are suggested which would both strengthen democratic participation and reconstitute the democratic legitimacy based on the intrinsic relationship between politics and ethics which has been largely ignored in the liberal democratic thought.Item Open Access Total quality management (TQM) in the Turkish public sector : the views of public employees on practices, impacts and problems for the implementation of TQM in two public organizations(Bilkent University, 2002) Coşkun, SelimTotal Quality Management (TQM) has become a popular management approach and system since the 1980s. While it has been adopted by thousands of organizations, the debate on its originality in theory and its relationship with management theory still continues. It can be defined as a management system and approach that has a set of core principles, assumptions, practices, tools and techniques which are systemized into a coherent framework. The studies suggest that TQM theory and practices can be, to a great extent, considered under the scope of management theory. In addition, it makes unique contributions to the management practice. This dissertation examines the practices, constraints and potential problems for adoption of the quality management in the public sector in the international and the Turkish public sector context. Public sector organizations in many developed countries widely implemented the quality management as a management approach and utilized it as a tool for reforming public sector. TQM became an important part of comprehensive public sector reform efforts. Some Turkish public organizations have also adopted the quality management. However, unlike some developed countries, it has been implemented at the organizational level rather than being systematic and being part of comprehensive reform efforts. Although various scholars have been discussing the feasibility and problems related to adoption of TQM in the Turkish public sector, there is very limited empirical research on the practices and problems of the quality management. Thus, a survey is conducted in two pioneering public organizations for adopting the quality v management in order to explore the views of the workforce. The literature proposes that the positive attitude of the employees is one of factors for the success of the quality management initiatives. The findings reveal that the workforce has generally positive views towards the quality management and public sector reforms. The findings also signify that the success and future of the quality management cannot be isolated from the organizational context and approaches to quality management as well as the problems of Turkish political and public administration system.Item Open Access The state elites and secularism with special reference to the military : the case of the 1980 military intervention(Bilkent University, 2002) Yılmaz, MehmetThe study aims to analyze the policies and attitudes of the military leaders of the 1980 Intervention towards religion. The state elites in the Ottoman-Turkish history have been the principal agents behind the secularization reforms and the maintenance of the established secularity tradition since the adoption of the modernization reforms in the nineteenth century, which initiated a process of social and political changes that culminated in the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Yet, the affirmative approach of the military leaders of the 1980 Intervention denotes a notable break from the previous tradition. The military leaders of the 1980 accentuated that religion was one of the indispensable components of national culture, and promoted it in cultural area through various policies and practices. This study tries to comprehend the implications of this change for the established secularity tradition in Turkey.Item Open Access Formation and representation of interests in Turkish political economy : the case of MÜSİAD (Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association)(Bilkent University, 2002) Çemrek, MuratThis thesis examines the case of Müstakil Sanayici ve İşadamları DerneğiMÜSİAD [Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association] to evaluate the formation and representation of interests within transformation of the Turkish political economy in the last two decades. The relatively liberalization in Turkey with further integration into the global markets led the development of civil society but it has not meant the waning of the “strong state” tradition. Thus, MÜSİAD as other Turkish business associations has been very dynamic to develop strong adaptability vis-à-vis strong state. The study benefits from Truman’s “disturbance,” Olson’s “collective action” and Salisbury’s “exchange” theories to delineate the emergence, development and mobilization of the association as well as the theories of pluralism, corporatism and clientelism to explore the essence of interest representation in Turkey. The thesis analyzes the institutional framework and organizational structure of MÜSİAD and argues that the role of Islam for the association has been quite functional providing a common bond for its members, motivation to (re)gain the markets in the Islamic world captured by non-Islamic forces and a way of moderating the labor. MÜSİAD’s reference to the East Asian model was also parallel to its Islamic discourse blended with its emphasis on moral and communitarian values. 1997 has been a turning point for MÜSİAD in its de-emphasis of its ideological pillars as Islam and East Asian economic development model. Following the economic crisis in East Asian countries and the February 28 process, MÜSİAD retreated from its references to both factors. In short, the examination of MÜSİAD is illuminating in terms of illustrating the depth and extent of the Islamic business activity in Turkey as well as the rise of new business elite that could develop a challenging culture vis-à-vis the state.Item Open Access Globalization and its impact on Turkish business associations : TÜSİAD and MÜSİAD in a comparative perspective(Bilkent University, 2003) Koyuncu, Berrin