Abstract
While some social networks might purposefully be established for participation, in some cases, social networks might already exist and possess the potential to contribute to citizen participation. This chapter aims to introduce the latter and identify sui generis social networks of citizen participation practices in Turkey. The main arguments of this chapter are as follows: (a) social networks already exist in social and political spheres and (b) one cannot comprehend the one-of-a-kind “potential” networking structures merely from a legal-administrative viewpoint, a thorough evaluation shall include a broader socio-cultural and historical perspective. In the first part, hemşehri (hometown fellowship) ties, their associations, and their contribution to participatory democracy are elaborated from the network perspective. In the second part, mahalle (neighborhood of Turkey) and mukhtar (headmen of mahalle) are assessed, focusing on the network characteristics, their role in citizen-state relations, and their potential to contribute to local citizen participation. Finally, city councils, a quasi-institutionalized network for local participatory democracy, are discussed. The main findings for all network structures are needs of (a) empowerment of those enabling networks for citizen participation, (b) provision of legal basis to fully fulfill their role in participation, and (c) emphasizing their role in participation rather than service provision.
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Notes
- 1.
Gecekondu are the shantytowns of Turkey and literally mean “built in a night.” They are very small, only one or two rooms, cheap material, flexible houses, built by collective efforts of hemşehri without operational costs. They also lack of electricity, sewage system, water, and sanitary conditions in the beginnings.
- 2.
An important reason of their skyrocketing is the political environment of the 1980s. Turkey has experienced coup d’état on September 12, 1980. The political and ideological organizations that were common in the 1970s were replaced by non-governmental organizations aimed at social aid/solidarity, due to the strict measures aiming to depoliticize Turkish society. Accordingly, it is observed that hemşehri associations, which were founded on the basis of cooperation and solidarity, have developed to represent a large part of the understanding of organization in Turkey (Kose 2008). In this respect, a depoliticized society played a distinctive role as one of the channels of participation. They do not represent a dialectical relationship in this sense; rather, they are simply the actors’ adaptation to the state’s structures (Navaro-Yashin 1998). Another reason of their proliferation is related with the social welfare state and social policies in Turkey. The existence of social inequalities and insufficient development of social policies to eliminate these inequalities are the main reasons for the establishment and/or prevalence of such organizations.
- 3.
As of 2022, there are 32,206 mahalles in Turkey (Ministry of Interior of Turkey 2022).
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Agcasulu, H. (2023). Social Networks of/for Citizen Participation in Turkey. In: Göçoğlu, V., Karkin, N. (eds) Citizen-Centered Public Policy Making in Turkey. Contributions to Public Administration and Public Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35364-2_6
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