Abstract
The government of Turkey undertook comprehensive public administration reforms in the first decade of the twenty-first century. These reforms were a new phase in the long history of the public administration reforms in this country. The reforms of the early 2000s were more comprehensive than their predecessors. In this latest phase, the government undertook both “managerial reforms” (improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery and adopting businesslike management techniques) and “governance reforms” (improving transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in public service delivery and citizen engagement in them) (Sözen 2012, p. 168). In this chapter we discuss the historical background and contents of these reforms and assess their effectiveness, particularly in two areas: citizen engagement in governance and reducing corruption.
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Notes
- 1.
The UNDP (n.d.) specifically identifies the following as its “focus areas” in its activities to promote democratic governance: access to information and e-governance, access to justice and rule of law, civic engagement, anti-corruption measures, fair electoral systems and processes, protections of human rights, mechanisms of participation in local governance and local development, parliamentary development, transparency, accountable and responsive public administration, and women’s empowerment. Similarly, the World Bank (n.d.) cites the following as the dimensions of governance: voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption.
- 2.
TI’s website emphasizes that the CPI is a composite index of the measures of perception by multiple reputable sources and that these measures are the most valid ways of assessing corruption in countries (http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/in_detail/#myAnchor2).
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Köseoğlu, Ö., Morçöl, G. (2014). Democratization of Governance in Turkey: An Assessment of the Administrative Reforms in the 2000s. In: Mudacumura, G., Morçöl, G. (eds) Challenges to Democratic Governance in Developing Countries. Public Administration, Governance and Globalization, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03143-9_9
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