Two Crises, Two Trajectories: Impact of Economic Crises on Urban Governance in Turkey

• In Event: 189 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 09. Urban Crises and Recovery

Abstract

Major economic crises are the most important drivers of policy shift in the governance of cities and their economies. But the existing literature on urban governance does not sufficiently explore the causal links between crises and urban governance shifts. The relatively small number of works on the topic are mostly descriptive single-case studies focusing on how the Great Recession that began in 2007 impacts urban regimes in advanced capitalist contexts. This is unfortunate given the frequency and intensity of economic crises experienced all around the globe in the neoliberal period, which makes it possible to construct comparative studies with the potential to advance our theoretical frames about how crises impact on urban dynamics. The purpose of this study is to explain why two major economic shocks experienced in Turkey in 2001 and 2008 led to very different policy outcomes in urban governance as well as the regulation of urban land and housing markets. While the former crisis was followed by wide-ranging decentralizing reforms in public administration, the latter crisis gave way to unprecedented centralization in urban governance as well as economic policy-making. That the same political party had been in power during the implementation of most of these reforms makes the question more interesting. The answer, I argue, lies mostly in ‘external factors’ –i.e. the state of the global economy (growth between 2001-07, recession after 2007) and prospects of Turkey’s EU membership (positive until 2008, negative after 2008). These external factors directly shaped the impact of crises on urban governance.

Author

• Tuna Kuyucu, Bosphorus University