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Listeleniyor 1 - 10 / 10
  • Yayın
    How do local actors interpret, enact and contest policy? An analysis of local government responses to meeting the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey
    (Routledge, 2022-05-04) Lowndes, Vivien; Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    Although 98% of Turkey’s 3.6 million Syrian refugees live outside camps, municipalities lack formal authority to initiate policies, while receiving no government funding for refugees. Drawing on interpretive policy analysis (IPA), the article unpacks the empirical puzzle of how formally weak local governments respond to refugee needs. IPA expects policy to be constituted through diverse sets of local meanings. Case studies in three districts in Istanbul revealed distinctive local narratives, some of which consolidated the national agenda of ‘hospitality’ while others focused on equal rights and integration. Municipal narratives reflected particular local contexts, selectively mobilizing deeper governing traditions. Local interpretations were enacted in specific approaches to refugee service delivery. Working with local NGOs, municipalities accessed international funds, despite national government’s vociferous critique of EU refugee policy. Even in an increasingly authoritarian setting, refugee policy was being constituted through multiple and contingent processes of local government interpretation.
  • Yayın
    Religious solidarity, historical mission and moral superiority: construction of external and internal "others' in AKP's discourses on Syrian refugees in Turkey
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2018-10-20) Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    Turkey hosts the world's largest community of displaced Syrians. According to UNHCR, there are more than 3 million registered Syrians in Turkey as of 2018. Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has followed an open-door policy, which was accompanied by a discourse emphasizing religious solidarity and humanitarian values. However, the arrival of Syrian refugees has become entangled with the existing identity debates and conflicts in Turkish politics. The AKP's discourse on Syrian refugees has become intertwined with its positive self-representation as the defender of all oppressed people (mazlum) and its attempts to reconstruct the Turkish nation along more Islamic lines. The article analyses parliamentary debates and presidential speeches in order to unravel AKP discourses on Syrian refugees. Drawing upon the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis, the article puts forward two arguments. First, the refugee issue has become a constitutive component of AKP identity and a discursive tool to reconstruct the nation along more Islamic lines. Second, Turkey's refugee policy has become a source of pride and enabled the AKP to claim moral superiority both vis-a-vis the West and its political opponents at home.
  • Yayın
    Turkey and the Middle East: frontiers of the new geographic imagination
    (Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis LTD, 2007-12) Aras, Bülent; Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    [No abstract available]
  • Yayın
    Citizenship in the age of the Internet: a comparative analysis of Britain and Turkey
    (Routledge Journals, 2014-01-02) Karakaya Polat, Rabia; Pratchett, Lawrence
    The article links the literatures on citizenship studies and electronic democracy by analyzing the extent to which theories and practices of citizenship are being transformed in the age of the Internet. Distinguishing between the different citizenship traditions of liberal-individualism and civic-republicanism, we analyze the interplay between generic technological tools and the divergent historical legacies of citizenship in Turkey and Britain. Based on our analysis of governmental portals, main e-government applications, and censorship and surveillance practices, we argue that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) serve the states' interests by enabling increased surveillance capabilities, more efficient bureaucracy, better border controls and criminal investigations. In both countries, citizens benefit from electronic service-delivery applications primarily as consumers of public services, while their role as citizens are not particularly enhanced. Parallel to these convergence tendencies, we observe striking differences in the way electronic citizenship is practiced in these two countries, stemming from different traditions of citizenship as well as different levels of democracy consolidation. Despite some of the transformative power of the ICTs, their use is largely shaped by the existing understandings of citizenship in both countries.
  • Yayın
    Digital exclusion in Turkey: A policy perspective
    (Elsevier Inc, 2012-10) Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    This article explores the patterns of the digital divide in Turkey and analyzes policies related to this issue. Our analysis reveals that the digital disparities are interwoven with other social inequalities. This finding is parallel to the conclusions of previous research which suggests that digital exclusion can have a 'reinforcing' effect on social and/or economic inequalities. Having considered the current range of policies targeting either ICT access or skills, we argue that techno-centric solutions with huge budgets occupy the policy agenda at the expense of more sophisticated programs that take into account the social context of digital exclusion. These policies fail to address the most disadvantaged groups. Those who are old, disabled, female and reside in rural areas are less likely to be internet users and existing policies do not reach out to these groups.
  • Yayın
    How does multi-level governance create capacity to address refugee needs, and with what limitations? an analysis of municipal responses to Syrian refugees in Istanbul
    (Oxford University Press, 2022-03) Karakaya Polat, Rabia; Lowndes, Vivien
    A multi-level governance (MLG) framework is used to investigate how municipalities in Turkey have coped with the arrival of 3.6 million Syrians amid limited resources, an ambiguous legal framework, and changing national policy priorities. Qualitative research in Istanbul, which hosts the largest number of refugees, shows how municipalities have generated capacity by working with actors at other governance levels and in non-governmental spaces, via formal and informal networks. MLG arrangements did not however imply the retreat of a powerful central state. Rather, they were decisively influenced by existing power relations and governing traditions, specifically a strong state, weak local government, and mistrust of civil society. The research illuminates the complex, and sometimes surprising, relationships between tiers and spheres of governance in shaping local responses to refugee needs. The research demonstrates the explanatory power of MLG in a highly centralized unitary state, outside of the democratic (and mostly federal) contexts where it is usually applied.
  • Yayın
    From conflict to cooperation: Desecuritization of Turkey's relations with Syria and Iran
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2008-10) Aras, Bülent; Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    In recent years, there has been a notable softening in Turkey's foreign policy toward Syria and Iran. How might we explain the change in Turkey's attitude toward these two countries considering the hostile relations of the 1990s and the worsening security situation in the Middle East? Drawing upon securitization theory, this article argues that domestic problems have influenced Turkey's foreign policy toward Iran and Syria in the past, as foreign policymakers have successfully externalized the sources of political Islam and Kurdish separatism. The remarkable softening of Turkey's foreign policy toward Syria and Iran since the beginning of the present decade can best be explained by looking at changes at the domestic level, particularly in terms of the process of desecuritization currently taking place within Turkey. Among other things, this process of desecuritization is the result of the European Union accession process and concomitant steps toward democratization, a transformation of the political landscape, and the appropriation of EU norms and principles in regional politics. Within this process of desecuritization and democratization, formerly securitized and dramatized issues have begun to be perceived as normal political issues. As a result, the policymaking process is now emancipated from ideational barriers, while there has been a substantial increase in the flexibility of foreign policy attitudes and the ability of foreign policymakers to maneuver in regional policy.
  • Yayın
    The internet and political participation : exploring the explanatory links
    (Sage Publications Ltd, 2005-12) Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    There is a growing literature exploring the role of the Internet in influencing levels and styles of political participation. However, it is not yet clear why the Internet is perceived as a medium that can, at least potentially, increase participation. Moreover, putting the emphasis on the Internet as a technology rather than on its information and communication capabilities signals a tendency for technological determinism. In order to avoid this, the article explores the relation between the Internet and political participation by examining three different facets of the Internet: the Internet as an information source, as a communication medium and as a virtual public sphere. The main argument of the article is that it is these facets of the Internet that may affect levels and styles of political participation and hence are of interest for political scientists. The article also emphasizes the relevance of established theories of participation within political science in evaluating the potential role of the Internet for affecting levels and styles of political participation.
  • Yayın
    Technology and politics: have the ICTs turned into a domain for civil-military relations in Turkey?
    (Routledge Journals, 2016-07-02) Karakaya Polat, Rabia; Kayhan Pusane, Özlem
    The implications of technology have been widely acknowledged in international relations. Studies ranging from the causes of war and military effectiveness to terrorism and nuclear proliferation have explored how technology shapes international politics. However, the implications of technology in domestic politics have not been scrutinised much. This paper helps fill this vacuum through an analysis of Turkey's civil-military relations. Although civilian control over the Turkish military has improved in the past decade, this process has not been smooth. With a focus on the recent court cases involving the military, the 2007 e-memorandum and the transfer of electronic military intelligence apparatus to the civilian authority, this paper demonstrates how technology has become an important domain for civil-military relations in Turkey.
  • Yayın
    The 2007 Parliamentary elections in Turkey: Between securitisation and desecuritisation
    (Oxford Univ Press, 2009-01) Karakaya Polat, Rabia
    On 22 July 2007, 84% of the Turkish public went to polling stations to cast their votes in General Election. The incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a landslide victory, receiving 47% of the vote, the largest share since the elections of 1957. The political debate before the elections focused on two issues: the election of the next president and a potential military incursion into Northern Iraq. These issues have become deeply ingrained into the two main ongoing salient issues in Turkey: political Islam and the Kurdish issue. Drawing upon concepts from Securitisation Theory, this article argues that the election results can be explained by reference to Turkey's longstanding regime problems and the perceptions of these problems by the public. An analysis of the securitisation and desecuritisation of political Islam and the Kurdish issue provides insights into the understanding of the election results and its implications for the future of democracy in Turkey.