Turkey: Globalization, Distribution and Social Policy, 1980–1998

Abstract

Turkey initiated its long process of integration with the world commodity and financial markets in 1980, and the successive stages of liberalization have been surveyed and are overviewed here. Since its early inception, the Turkish adjustment program was hailed as a model by the orthodox international community, and was supported by generous structural adjustment loans, debt relief, and technical aid; currently, the Turkish economy can be said to be operating under conditions of a truly open and liberalized economy, and in this setting, many of the instruments of macro and fiscal control have been transformed, and the constraints of macroequilibrium have undergone major structural change. The analytics of the two distinct phases of liberalization (1980–8 and 1989–98) is the theme of the first section of this chapter, where the modes of accumulation and surplus creation under both subperiods are addressed separately; the second section carries this analysis to microaspects of adjustment and reports on the evolving patterns of employment, labor productivity, and overall informalization of the labor force. Responses to pressures of international competitiveness and the emerging patterns of income distribution are studied in the third section, and in the fourth section, the preceding analysis is applied to size distribution of income and the incidence of postliberalization adjustments on poverty. The incidence of globalization on public sector accounts and the state's changing role in the provision of public goods are narrated in the fifth section, and the sixth concludes with an overview of the social policy implications of globalization.

Privatization of Security as a State-Led and Class-Driven Process: The Case of Turkey

“…From the beginning it was defined as a "Two Nations" strategy, aimed at pacifying all segments of the laboring classes and dissident groups through oppressive means (Tunay, 1993, 23). Moreover, the neoliberal economic policies of the 1980s resulted in exacerbation of socio-economic inequalities and proletarianization of the urban poor, peasants and traditional middle classes such as public employees, craftsmen, and shopkeepers (Boratav, Yeldan and Kose, 2000;Senses and Koyuncu, 2007). This prompted the rise of the labor movement in the late 1980s and the urban riots in the 1990s, combined with the rise of systemic threats to the established order emanating from Kurdish insurgency, political Islam and socialist organizations.…”

Agrarian Transformation, Labour Supplies, and Proletarianization Process in Turkey: A historical Overview

“…Even though the Turkish economy experienced respectable rates of growth, particularly after the 1990s, the share of wage income in the value added of major economic sectors did not exhibit any sustained improvement (Boratav et al 2000). In fact, the informal economy grew even bigger, reaching fifty percent of employment in manufacturing (and higher in services) (Öniş 2000).…”

Türki̇ye’ye Yöneli̇k Kaçak İşgücü Göçü

“…Bunun biraz daha derinleştirilmesi gerekmektedir. Bu noktada, Türkiye'deki Marksist iktisatçılardan oluşan bir grup yazarın, 1980 sonrası dönüşümün bölüşüm ilişkileri ve işgücü piyasaları üzerindeki etkisine ilişkin analizleri bu çalışma açısından çok değerli ipuçları sağlamaktadır (Boratav, 2005a;Boratav/Yeldan/Köse, 2000;Köse/Yeldan, 1999;Şenses, 1996;Yeldan, 2006;Yentürk, 1997).…”