A critical analysis of decentralisation and local economic development: the Turkish case

Simple neoliberal approaches ignore the importance and power that the state has in making decentralization effective. This is shown through a critical analysis of local economic development in which evidence, from three projects in a second-rank Turkish industrial centre, Kayseri, was used. Turkey’s recent moves from highly centralized systems of governance to neoliberal policies of economic devolution reveal a poor understanding of how the roles of state and its institutions operate. The findings illustrate that the control of narrow political interests distorts local priorities and projects, and many civil society groups remain ineffective in the face of local initiatives. The author concludes that decentralization without competent state administration is likely to aggravate social fracturing and to foster inequalities while, at the same time, failing to ameliorate public service and economic development.