An evalution of the recent debates on restructuring of the Turkish government: federalism and unitary state arguments
Author
Çınar, Menderes
Advisor
Kadıoğlu, Ayşe
Date
1993Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
Political decentralization in a unitary state means
devolution of the center's power to localities and/or
periphery. Since such decentralization involves promotion
of alternative power bases, it goes against the nature of
the unitary state. Therefore, in a unitary state, where
the authority is distributed from the center, the center
should have confidence to whom it is decentralizing.
Such trust/ confidence is, in turn, linked to degree of
political integration, as measured by the
'decentralisers' (i.e. the center). In the OttomanTurkish
polity, the way of political integration was a
'centralized' one, and it was not conducive to
decentralization. Indeed, the centralization of the
system began with attempts to forge a nation. The center
was suspect of periphery. In such a context, the Turkish
political culture lacked local 'government' tradition.
The un(der)development of civic community hindered
political decentralization. There are, of course, other
factors influencing the degree of decentralization, such
as the size of the country in question. But, the
political culture and the degree of political integration
(as a determinant of the degree of confidence) are
considered to be the most important in the Turkish case.
This is because, other factors are, actually, encouraging
for more decentralization. The debates around the issue
are part of the broader debates over restructuring
Turkish politics. As far as decentralization is
concerned, the key question is, whether Turkey completed
its integration and/or if the way of integration was/is
correct? Opponents and proponents of decentralization are
divided over this question(s). Arguments against
decentralization seems to be based on the assumption
that, decentralization as proposed by the proponents,
would lead to a wholesale transformation of the
principles of the Republic.