Neoliberalism, Nature, and Changing Modalities of Environmental Governance in Contemporary Turkey

Abstract

This piece analyses some of the recent environmental governance changes in Turkey that could be described as neoliberal: privatization of watercourses, decentralization of water user associations (WUAs), and increasing use of market instruments, such as full cost recovery and privatization of urban water. In line with debates on variegation and neoliberalism (Brenner, Peck, and Theodore 2010), we argue that there are key historical traces and contextual factors that make the contemporary situation in Turkey unique and interesting with respect to broader debates on neoliberal environmental governance. Neoliberal practices and policies build on, accentuate, and articulate with these historical and contextual specificities. Historically, there are key connections to Ottoman policies and legacies, situating current pollcies as a disjointed continuation of some earlier and longer-term efforts (even as in other ways, contemporary policies also represent a sharp break from earlier policies and norms). The European Union accession process, recent economic crises, and the recent politics associated with the Islamic AK party all similarly bear a clear imprint on the pathways and effects of neoliberal environmental governance practices in this context. Our aim here is to untangle, and situate, contemporary environmental governance practices in Turkey in relation to some of these historical and contextual processes and pathways.KeywordsUrban WaterEnvironmental GovernanceWater User AssociationTurkish StateContemporary PeriodThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.