M.A. Theses

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Kadro and Kemalism :|a search for an ideology in the early 1930s
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Atatürk's Principles and the History of the Turkish Renovation, 1993., 1993.) Dalak, M. Uğur.; Coşar, Nevin.
The primary reason for the present research questioned whether the political, economic and social philosophy of Kadro influenced Kemalism, or Kemalism used Kadro to implement the political directions of the single party regime at its inception. Kadro's philosophy which may be defined as a superficial combination of Marxism, nationalism and fascism was expounded in the early 1930s by a group of radical intellectual. Kadro's theses and its problematical relationship with Kemalism (which it was developed as a modernizing pragmatic ideology emanated From t.he Tanzimat era) were treated within a theoretical approach using the conceptual framework of populism, modernisation and cooptation. Populist policy of Kemalism in the 1930s was for a classless and united society within the single party regime as state capitalism, namely etatism was still being maintained. Kadro was attempting to combine the post-revolutionary anti-imperialist and capitalist rhetoric of the 1920s with the populism of 1930s. The claim of Kadro in 1932 is to contribute to the reproduction of the Kemalist ideology and put it into a mature (doctrinaire) form. This contribution was a 'peculier hybridt of Kemalism, in other words a kind of endeavour to give a strict llauthoritarian/totalitarian" mixture of a socialist-fascist form to it. However, Kemalist leaders did not want any ideology other than that of their own. Moreover, Kadro's very strong anti- West/liberal leanings in both political, cultural and economic aspect were not compatible with the Kemalist prospects. Therefore, it is not possible to assume that Kadro had influenced the Kemalist single party regime. With these stances it is difficult to imagine that Kadro could have been tolerated by Ataturk. The reason why Kadro's cessation was dealt with comprehensively between Kadro and the ruling Kemalist elite xas to show the enermous disparity in their views on political revolution, ideology and civilization. In order to understant the closure of Kadro hermeneautical interpretation was used to analyse the relevant data, including Atattirk's message, published in Kadro. Furthermore, relevant parts of Yakup Kadrils book named "Zoraki Diplomat" and the interview with ismail Hiisrev, was also used.
A comparative study of Turkey and Iran: a socio-political approach
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Atatürk's Principles and the History of the Turkish Renovation, 1994., 1994.) Milani, Kemal.; Gülfidan, Şebnem.
This dissertation is a comparative study on two neighbouring countries in the Middle East, Turkey and Iran, both of which experienced similar constitutional revolutions at the beginning of the twentieth century, within a period of two years. Considering the other constitutional movements that occurred one after another raises the question of whether these movements were just the consequences of a world political agenda or they occurred only coincidentally, inspired by their internal dynamics.To answer this question, a comparative study was conducted on Iran and Turkey from an historical perspective. First their traditional socio-political structures on the eve of the nineteenth century before the modernisation movements began were compared, then the reform process in the nineteenth century was shown from an analytical perspective looking at how both domestic and foreign dynamics worked interactively. Before making the final comparison for understanding why these two countries, which have such different political regimes today although they passed through similar constitutional and modernization processes, a detailed study of the events of the revolutions is undertaken. The paper concludes that these developments were inspired and affected by outside forces and developments in the world political system. However, the internal dynamics formed by the historical and cultural backgrounds of these two countries, and the experiences they had in the nineteenth century caused different constitutional revolutions in terms of the outcomes they procudced in the next years.
Development of railways in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Atatürk's Principles and the History of the Turkish Renovation, 1995., 1995.) Bayraktaroğlu, Sena.; Coşar, Nevin.
The Palestinian-Israeli peace process in international context with a note on the consequences for Turkish foreign policy
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Atatürk's Principles and the History of the Turkish Renovation, 1996., 1996.) Aras, Bülent.; Pamuk, Şevket, 1950- .
This thesis aims to analyze the whole process of peace attempts between Palestinians and Israelis in accordance with the systemic changes in international relations. Here the focal point will be the emergence of the new world order, which has certain positive impact on the parties to the conflict toward accepting a partial solution in the end. Accordingly, the transformation of the nature of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is firstly analyzed from 1947 until eruption of the 1991 Gulf Crisis. Then, after the evaluation of the political context and the analysis of the 1991-1996 period, it is argued that the impact of new realities in the changing matrix of power politics within the new world order constituted one of the important factors which paved the way to the launching of the last Palestinian-Israeli peace attempt. Meanwhile, in this thesis, an additional chapter is devoted to the relevance of the whole peace process to Turkish Foreign Policy. The main conclusion of the thesis might be put as follows: Systemic changes in international relations, culminating in the end of the cold warlbipolarity, have in time clearly affected the progress in Palestinian-Israeli peace process from total refusal by both sides to acceptance of a partial solution, be it willingly or unwillingly, under the imperatives of new realities in the world order, which are of considerable relevance to Middle Eastern affairs.
Early republican reforms from the perspective of elite vs. the people, with particular reference to the alphabet and language reforms
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Atatürk's Principles and the History of the Turkish Renovation, 1996., 1996.) Dikici, Ali.; Karaman, Lütfullah.
The people and the intellectuals, the two significant agents of the efforts of Westernization over centuries, were handled as two separate groups by two sides, which prevented the planned modernization at the desired rate. The principal way to overcome this gap, which is concretized within the context of alphabet and language reforms, is to comprehend mutually. So the position of the people in Westernization efforts is studied throughout the thesis. The thesis comprises of two parts: First, the general philosophy and the aims of the reforms put into effect after the formation of Republic, a general outlook of the people in the post-war period and the manner in which people comprehended the reforms are briefly examined. Second, the alphabet and language reforms from the perspective of its relation to the people have been examined. The gap between the intellectuals and the people is the common point of these two parts.
Agricultural growth in the 1930s in Turkey
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Atatürk's Principles and the History of Turkish Renovation, 1999., 1999.) Akarçay, Ayça.; Pamuk, Şevket, 1950- .
Assessment of the economic development of the 1930s in Turkey have mainly emphasized industrial development, which is attributed to state-led policies (etatism). However, developments in agricultural sector were also important. Agricultural production, especially cereal production, increased despite the deflationary context. As such, it constituted another factor behind the industrial growth. Existing literature on the agricultural sector in Turkey in 190s either emphasizes state policies, which are said to have favoured small peasantry; or the impoverishment and differentiation of the peasantry, attributing growth to external demand; or to population recovery; or to favourable weather conditions. It appears that exports could not have been a source of growth. State intervention -price support programmes in wheat production, wheat purchases, credits to the agricultural sector or more specifically to cereal producers. Peasantry differentiation does not seem to have occurred on a major scale, meaning that small peasantry prevailed as under Ottoman rule; otherwise, the production increase in cereals could not be explained. The population increase was indeed an important factor; however, as Per capita production also increased it was certainly not the only factor behind the growth as such. There is no evidence that the second half of the 1930s was a particularly favourable period in terms of rainfall. If the explanations given in the literature do not explain the growth or are insufficient, other factors such as the nature of the peasantry and the dynamics of that strata seem to have been the main factors behind the growth.
The lost battle: |representations of the intellectual in March 12 novels
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for The History Modern Turkey, 1999., 1999.) Akser, Ali Murat.; Köksal, Duygu.
In this study, the revolutionary intellectual, as portrayed in the March 12 novels, is discussed. First, the intellectual is defined and the qualities of the revolutionary intellectuals in March 12 novels discussed. It is argued that they had a persistent criticism of the bourgeois class and sympathy for the underprivileged people. They had a mission to civilize and protect their people. Second, revolution and revolutionary ideals were discussed. The revolutionaries shape their identity as a reaction to authority and to their parents who are usually of Kemalist origin. They are assisted by a local intellectual instead. It is also argued that the revolutionaries in fact cannot agree on a shared definition of revolution. Third, the psychological breakdown of the revolutionary intellectual is discussed. They experience paranoia and feel guilty and hopeless. It is argued that they also think their failure was result of their fragmentation and because were so removed from the people. And finally, revolutionary women are discussed. The role of women in nation building process is mentioned and it is seen that Turkish women are used as ideological markers of modernity and did not fight for citizenship right like their European counterparts. Though they want to act on their own, they are prevented by a public patriarchy. Revolutionary women violate this code and are treated like prostitutes. Criticism of bourgeois women is noted in their depiction as perfect consumers. Also the contrast between the rural and urban women is described.
Parliamentary experience of the Turkish Labour Party: 1965-1969
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2000., 2000.) Doğan, Erkan.; Toprak, Zafer.
This study is an attempt to understand the political importance of the Turkish Labour Party (TLP) ( Türkiye Ýþçi Partisi) in Turkish politics and among the Turkish left in the light of the party's parliamentary experience between 1965 and 1969. The main primary sources that have been used in this study are the archival materials of the TLP, leftist journals of th9e period, and the minutes of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The main claim of this thesis is that the TLP's entrance into the National Assembly was an important milestone in Turkish politics. Furthermore the TLP with its insistence on parliamentary methods in order to attain political power differed from the other main sections of the Turkish left of the sixties.
The representation of gender, love family and sexuality in the canonical and non-canonical novels of the early republican period
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2001., 2001.) Ural, Tülin.; Köksal, Duygu.
In the conclusion of thesis, it is observed that the authors of both the canonical and non-canonical novels prefer to discuss modernity through using gender and related themes. Moreover, namus (sexual honor) and nationalism form the limits of alternative discourses. Thee is also another big difference between the non-canonical and canonical novels in terms of modernity: the canonical novels explicitly criticize a definition of modernity as a process that increases the possibilities for individual liberation, perceives it as reflection of selfish individualism and defends rather a model of modernity based on more rationally and centrally controlled society. According to the canonical novels, the first model of modernity shows is darker side in woman's degeneration. The fundamental sign of this degeneration is that woman loses her sexual namus. Thus, in the canonical novels, although there are few examples that perceive woman from a positive point of view, the degenerating influence of modernity remains the secret basis on which the story is built. The main question of the canonical novel is a negative one: How should not we modernize? It is a question that reminds the reader primarily of the dangers of modernity. In this study, the defensive position of the canonical novels towards modernization is explained by the tension between nationalism and modernism, in Kemalist ideology and practice (as is the case in many other nation-building process, too.) National identity requires the construction of certain essential characteristics for the nation, peculiar itself. Whereas modernization, especially a project that explicitly declares that it is based on a western model, has to refer to universal values and include elements from the "other". This tension is solved in these novels by suggesting a modernization model "peculiar to Turks". In this process, the critical point is the fact that national uniqueness as difference is defined through the purity of the female body, which is manifested primarily in the protection of her namus.
Images and perceptions of fascism among the mainstream Kemalist elite in Turkey, 1931-1943
(Thesis (M. A.) - Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2001., 2001.) Ünver, Cennet.; Karaömerlioğlu, M. Asım.
The image and perception of Italian Fascism and German National Socialism, as it comes to an expression mainly in the official organs of the Republican People's Party, Hakimiyet-i Milliye (Ulus) and Ülkü, and partly in the influential journal Kadro constitutes the subject of this study. The thirteen year period beyween 1931 and 1943, in which the authoritarian character of the single-party regime in Turkey was most evident, is the time frame. The approach to fascist ideology, the topics attracting most attention, and the way some of the core elements in Fascism and National Socialism are described in these sources, is identified in the work, which with a disclaim of undertaking a comparative analysis, still claims to include a comparative aspect. The particular interest in Italian Fascism in the first half of the 1930s, the positive perception of notions such as discipline, organization of the youth, ideological and physical education, the role of leaders, and finally, seen in general, the absence of any critical stance toward the two fascist regimes, are some of the findings which stand out in the examination of the sources. With this different approach to the experience of single-party rule in Turkey, this study brings to attention a new aspect and contributes to the wider debate over the authoritarian nature of the Kemalist regime in the inter-war period.
The political economy of foreign direct investment in Turkey 1950-1980
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Science, 2002., 2002.) Dumludağ, Devrim.; Pamuk, Şevket, 1950- .
In the Turkish Republic, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, Foreign Investment was regarded as a very suspicious subject in Turkey as a result of the capitulations and s substantial amount of Ottoman Dept. There were many debates about the issue in the press and in public and most of the studies in this period had generally a normative way of looking at the FDI issue. Although Law 6224, the encouragement of Foreign Investment, which was designed as a liberal law, was enacted in 1954, it was used to this suspicious attitude. During this period a very small amount of FDI entered into Turkey and its share was very insignificant in the Turkish economy.When we compare the amount of FDI coming to Turkey with the corresponding amounts in other developing countries we clearly find that our findings strengthens that the share of FDI in Turkey is insignificant. These countries enjoyed an inflow of FDI averaging one-three billion dollars per year while Turkey received averaging ten-fifty million dollars per year in this period.This master thesis studies the FDI in Turkey between 1950 and 1980 and examines the contribution of the FDI to the economic growth, employment and tax revenues. In addition, it aims to ascertain the obstacles and impediments that obstruct the greater flow of private foreign investments into Turkey.
Between colonial and national dominations: Antioch under French mandate (1920-1939)
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Science, 2002., 2002.) Altuğ, Seda.; Eldem, Edhem,
This study examines the gradual and uneven transformation that Antioch, as one of the three towns of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, underwent under the French mandate. The following thesis will argue against the perspective, which usually identifies the region with inherent ethnic hostility and sectarianism. Rather, it will state that the ethno- religious segregation in the city in social, political and spatial terms corresponds to the intensification of the nationalist ideology. In this sense, it will direct its attention to the early years of the mandate in presenting continuity with the late Ottoman times and during when Turkish and Arab nationalisms were not considerably popularized yet. The class structure and the patronage relations will be displayed as significant indicators reifying the continuity under the French mandate. This thesis will also pay attention to the emerging critiques against the status-quo by a marginal group among the frustrated sections of the society and try to elaborate their discourses and claims on the future of the Sanjak. The main argument of the thesis will be that the Turkish party involved in this anti-traditionalist movement was gradually centralized and standardized by Turkey and transformed into a statist, ethnic-nationalist movement primarily struggling for the annexation of the Sanjak by Turkey. A critical reading of French and Turkish sources together with the oral interviews displayed some significant insights on the nature of the conflict of the period under scrutiny. Accordingly, this research will emphasize the contest for domination in the public sphere between the rivalling political factions in the city in order to create consent with an emphasis on their employment of traditional networks for a modern discourse.
Decentralism versus centralism in Ottoman Anatolia, 1919-1922
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute of Modern Turkish History, 2002., 2002.) Gümüş, Fatih.; Karaömerlioğlu, M. Asım.
The last few years of the Ottoman Empire saw the rise of a de-centralist/localist movement and approach in the country. The movement included some features which were very different from those of the traditional political approach of the Empire. It sought the foundation of an anti-bureaucratic and de-centralist administration in the country and demanded the establishment of local councils in local units such as the provinces (vilayets) and districts (nahiyes). This movement created tensions not only with the traditional power center in İstanbul, but also with the movement of a new political centralization, called here the Mustafa Kemal-led Political (National) Movement. The Mustafa Kemal-led Political Movement tried to establish a new political center in Anatolia, and in this process came into conflict with the local organizations or units. The Grand National Assembly was an arena in which these two diverse approaches came together, and within which the de-centralist/localist approach could openly show itself. The de-centralist/localist approach had the potential to radically reform the political structure of the Empire. To this aim, it offered some foundational laws. However, these offers were partly and unwillingly supported by the power group. In the end the supporters, of the de-centralist/localist approach were taken out of the GNA and the laws, or the articles of laws, and the drafts for laws which represented the de-centralist/localist approach were eradicated by the power group.
The Ottoman postal and telegraph services in the last quarter of the nineteenth century
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute of Modern Turkish History, 2003., 2003.) Okan, Ayşegül.; Kuyaş, Ahmet.
Public postal services were inaugurated in the Ottoman Empire with the establishment of the Ministry of Post in 1840. The institute was an extension of the new administrative approach which appeared especially with the Tanzimat Decree.The first telegraph lines were installed in 1855, during the Crimean War. In time, the telegraphic network developed rapidly in the Empire. From 1871, the telegraph and postal services were managed from a single administrative center. This thesis tells of the modernization process seen in the Ottoman postal and telegraph services in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The process, which was begun with the membership of the Ottoman State in the Universal Postal Union in 1874 and continued under the reign of Abdülhamid II, created quantitative and qualitative changes in post and telegraph services. The system began to work much more efficiently than it had in the past. Another important finding of the thesis is that the sultan was not the only actor in the process; officials placed in the low ranks of the bureaucratic structure played significant roles in this improvement.The thesis also examines the foreign post offices operating in the Empire. The state struggled with the foreign post offices to obtain its monopoly right over communication systems; although it did not reach certain results, the Ottomans did accomplish the modernization of their own system.The survey depends mostly on primary sources.
Furniture and household goods in late nineteenth century Istanbul
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2003., 2003.) Üstündağ-Selamoğlu, Esra.; Kafesçioğlu, Çiğdem.
This work proposes that particularly at the end of nineteenth century a change occured in furniture and household goods in the Ottoman capital city of Istanbul. Modernisation/westernisation movements accelerated. Western capital entering into the Ottoman market and population increases led to changes in the social structure and in the city itself. This transformation was reflected in home furnishings. Europeans, minorities, and elite Ottomans, all together playedimporttant roles in the spread of the use of western style furniture. Settlement patterns also began to change. While the new quarters on the Anatolian and Rumelian sides, around Taksim and along the Bosphorus coasts prospered, others, such as Beyazıt, Aksaray, Fatih, Üsküdar, Eyüp, lost value. New building types such as apartments and row houses emerged in this period. Their features were different from those of traditional homes. The room and the sofa were the most important elements in the traditional Ottoman house. The main room, used for eating, living, and sleeping, featured a sedir (sofa), minder (cushion) and şilte (thin mattress) together with various textile covering. In latenineteenth century buildings, the multi-functionality of the room began to change, both in traditional house types and in the new ones. Large stores, local carpenters, and the Mekteb-i Sanayi (Industry School) played important roles in the increased usage of western style household goods and furniture. These transformations are reflected in the novels of the period. Novelists gave a great deal of attention to the modernisation/westernisation movements and describe the chaning houses and eating habits. "Modern life" and "modern furniture" were perceived and represented differently by each of the novelists. "Furniture"was seen to express the life style, and the cultural background of its owners.
Reinstitutionalizing Turkey: |the new right experience
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2003., 2003.) Bekmen, Ahmet.; Karaömerlioğlu, M. Asım.
This thesis tries to shed light on the relationship between the New Right and democracy by focusing on the new institutionalizing dynamics. In addition to the theoretical and historical background of the New Right policies implemented in Turkey after 1980, the role of these policies on the reorganization of the central state apparatus is also taken into account. The case of this thesis, which is the Metropolitan Municipalities, aims to highlight the tendencies explained throughout the thesis in a concrete analysis.At first sight, it seems that the New Right, regarding the reorganization of the state apparatus, tends to destabilize the classic liberal democratic balances of forces by strenghtening the executive power. However, a more detailed analysis would show us that what is strenghtened by the New Right is not the executive power in general but the a group of people consisting of the high-ranks of the economy governance, who gains a considerable level of authority in the decision-making processes by paralyzing the other components of the state apparatus, such as the bureaucratic and adjudicatory mechanisms. Thus, the New Right can be considered a special phase of the process of the centralization of the decision-making mechanisms.The post-1980 Turkey is an excellent example for this tendency, especially with regard to the elimination of the traditional bureaucratic mechanisms and judicial control mechanisms from the decision-making process. However, this tendency should not be considered only with regard to the reorganization of the central state apparatus. These dynamics expanded and the centralization of the decision-making process in a technocratic way became a characteristic that can be met in all levels of the state apparatus. In that sense, the Metropolitan Municipalities are excellent examples.
Politics of cultural change and religious discourse in the Nineteenth Century Ottoman Empire and Qajar Persia
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2004., 2004.) Huntzinger, Emmanuel.; Kuyaş, Ahmet.
This thesis looks at the dynamics of rapid changes affecting cultures, discourses and ideologies in the early modern Ottoman and Qajar empires up to the constitutional revolutions of the early twentieth century. Both polities, under the political pressure and intellectual inspiration of Western Europe, engaged in technical and political reforms, by the hands of their governments. Along with them, far-reaching cultural changes occurred, re-shaping the empires' symbolic dimension, altering the meanings of all components of the social world. In the early modern Middle East, an important dynamic for intellectual innovation was the use of Islamic idiom in new specific discourses. Cultural changes were closely related to social ones, in a double-sense causal relationship. The dominant elites, especially the Hamidian regime in the Ottoman Empire and higher shi'i clergy in Persia, used religious discourses to naturalize their privileged social positions. They constructed these discourses according to their interactions with other strategic actors, and the effectiveness of their symbolic violence relied for a large part on the good-will of third parties willing to diffuse and enforce the official creed. Opposing the domination discourses, a number of resistance cultures appeared. The interstices of power in peripheries were filled with local symbolic constructions partly opposing the central one. Opposition ideologies, developed in places of exile and sustained by political subversion in the centers, frontally challenged the official discourses. Endogenous cultural confrontation, both by clandestine activism and during direct political conflicts, thus accounts for cultural change and the birth of ideologies in the early modern Middle East.
The opposition in the second constitutional monarchy period: the case of Ahmet Samim
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2004., 2004.) Hastaş, Mehmet T.; Toprak, Zafer.
Ahmet Samim was one of the three journalists assassinated after the declaration of the second constitutional monarchy. Samim, who was a fervent opponent of the Committee of Union and Progress, was also one of the founders of the Ahrar Fırkası (Liberal Party). This thesis analyses Samim's articles published in Sadayı Millet (Sound of the Nation), touching on the internal politics. Samim's articles are evaluated against a background describing the political atmosphere of the period. In this background we have chosen some subtitles: The amendments of 1909, the thought of Prince Sabahaddin, the elections of 1908 and the parliament, Grand Viziers and cabinets in the period of 1908-1910. Samim's articles are analysed in eight subdivisions: constitutional monarchy, the military service of non-Muslims, the union of the elements, the press, the revolt in Albania, the Committee of Union and Progress, Abdülhamit and the ancien regime, and the minister of public works, Hallacyan Efendi.In the conclusion, after summarising Samim's opinions, his position in the political atmosphere of the second constitutional monarchy is described.
Defining a population:|women and children in early republican Turkey, 1923-1950
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2004., 2004.) Öztamur, Pınar.; Karaömerlioğlu, M. Asım.
This thesis looks at the construction of welfare, and women and children as objects of welfare practices, new sciences, technologies and arts of government in early Republican Turkey and covers a period between the late 1920s and the 1940s. Following World War I and the Independence War and in the climate of the nation-state building, several actors in Republican Turkey, including state authorities, intellectuals, physicians and others, were concerned with the size, rate of growth and "quality" of the population as an object of government and management. These new forms of government, which primarily intended to confront the problem of population decline, targeted several objects which included the regulation of the social and employed techniques such as censuses, social insurance, urban planning and housing projects and problematized the city, the home, the family as well as the individual body as objects of their projects. Among these objects, this thesis is primarily concerned with women and children, and the policies and practices targeting them. Through the lens of womanhood, motherhood and childhood, this thesis presents discussions, on a broad scale, of Turkish state and society in a period of the nation-state building and the ongoing efforts to transform society by the Republican elites. The Republican elite's obsession with the concepts of childhood and proper womanhood and motherhood went hand in hand with their obsession with nationhood and modernity. Like woman's bodies, children's bodies promised a field which bore possibilities for the Republican elite to chart their aspirations in the path of nation-state building and symbolized the severed ties with a distant imperial past, which they strove to forget.
Turkey's experience with microcredit: the new governmental strategy
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, 2004., 2004.) Özer, Sinem.; Özbek, Nadir.
Microcredit delivery to the poor in order to encourage them to involve in income-generating activities or develop their micro-enterprises emerged as a survival strategy on the basis of the assumption that the poor can survive on their own. Given that the poor as self-sufficient market actors are considered to be able to involve in entrepreneurial activities, microcredit represents a new conception of fight against poverty rendered to a matter of availability of financial resources for the poor. Credit recovery is secured not through guarantee or collateral but rather through formation of solidarity groups among credit receivers and maintenance of peer-pressure. This thesis examines microcredit delivery as a new governmental strategy defined by the transition in the conception of development from the direct provision of social services in order to secure the welfare of citizens to empowerment of the poor in order to enable them to survive on their own. In this sense, microcredit delivery represents reconstitution of the social as market spaces subjected to determination of market actors rather than bureaucratic intervention of the state. This approach to microcredit delivery that allows for focusing on forms of knowledge and techniques rendering the poor to object of government and hence problematizing poverty as a governmental concern transgressing the limits of purely economic categories enables to consider penetration of daily forms of life by global power structures.

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