Korkut Boratav

The Making of the Turkish Financial Crisis

There can be little doubt that at the turn of the century the Turkish economy was in need of an urgent stabilization in order to halt a treacherous process of high and volatile inflation, unsustainable public debt accumulation, and increasing financial fragility, resulting from irresponsible policies and lack of fiscal discipline that had been endemic under various governments since the early 1980s. However, the stabilization program formulated and launched with strong support from the IMF failed to deliver its promises, plunging the economy into an unprecedented crisis, in large part because of serious shortcomings in its design as well as in crisis intervention which appears to have drawn no useful lessons from the recent bouts of crises in emerging markets.

Dilemmas of structural adjustment and environmental policies under instability: Post-1980 Turkey

Abstract The Turkish structural adjustment since 1980 has been associated with chronic instability. Since the late 1980s, the weaknesses in the fiscal system and the premature external liberalization emerge as the main factors hindering the passage toward stable growth. Enforced and erratic distributional changes and relative stagnation of capital accumulation have undermined the growth potential of the economy. Further, it is demonstrated that existing market structures may negate environmental policies based on market incentives. These observations, as well as those on the interactions of the market system and the environment, create strong arguments in favor of an active state.

Distributional Dynamics in Turkey under “Structural Adjustment” of the 1980s

The economic and political crisis which Turkey faced during 1977-1980 was resolved by an orthodox stabilization program adopted early in 1980, immediately followed by conventional structural adjustment measures and the military coup realized on September of the same year. The Turkish experience with orthodox stabilization and structural adjustment incorporates a number of specificities and it will be useful to recall them briefly. First of all, the striking element of continuity in basic economic policy orientation which lasted from 1980 up till 1089 without any significant reversals should be emphasized. The personal role of Turgut Ozal as Vice Premier in charge of the economy during 1980-1982 under the military governments and Prime Minister during 1984-1991, was a determining factor in this respect. Reversals and hesitations as observed in Latin American experiences due to differences between rival monetarist schools or between populist and right wing political groupings played practically no role for almost ten years in Turkey. The political pressures which resulted in a switch back to populism in 1989 —a theme to be investigated in this paper— marked, in our view, a drastic shift away from the policy model adopted in 1980.

The Turkish Bourgeoisie under Neoliberalism

The Turkish bourgeoisie as a class was instrumental in the shift into neoliberalism in 1980 and succeeded in controlling the overall orientation of economic policies up until the end of the decade. Coalition governments, which followed, witnessed a drift into populism and generated intra-class conflicts within the ranks of the bourgeoisie. Solutions to accommodate distributional trade-offs with neoliberalism turned out to be temporary. After 2002, the stability of Justice and Development Party/Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP)’s one-party-rule was welcomed by all segments of the bourgeoisie since it immediately and fully committed itself to the neoliberal model. However, new problems emerged as AKP gradually moved into rent-generation and appropriation specific to the Turkish variant of neoliberalism. Extreme patterns and magnitudes of corruption followed. The degree of maturity of the Turkish bourgeoisie is being tested on how far it will respond to the tendency to participate in and share the spoils.

Notes on the Current Development Problems and Growth Prospects of the Turkish Economy

It is the aim of these notes to make a balance sheet of the development problems which Turkey is currently facing and to assess medium-term growth prospects for the Turkish economy. Such a balance sheet necessitates a retrospective look into the recent past, in which a distinction should be made between the pre- and post-1980 periods since it was early in 1980 that a major reorientation of economic policies into an orthodox “structural adjustment” line took place. Hence we investigate roughly two seven year periods covering 1973-79 and 1980—86 (with more emphasis on the second period), being fully aware that with respect to certain variables the year 1980 may not always serve as a dividing line.

Yeni emparyalizmin ekonomisi

Yeni Emperyalizmin Ekonomisi baslikli soylesi, 17 Mart 2005 tarihinde Acik Radyo icin, (acikradyo.com.tr) Ankara’da yapilmistir. Soylesi, 7 Nisan 2005 tarihinde Acik radyoda yayinlanmistir. Soyleside; Genel Yayin Yonetmenimiz Ali Bilge, Bilkent Universitesi ogretim uyesi Prof.Dr Erinc Yeldan ve A.U. Siyasal Bilgiler Fakultesi emekli ogretim uyesi Prof.Dr Korkut Boratav, neo-liberal kuresellesmenin gelismekte olan ulkelerde yarattigi sonuclari ve yeni yayinlanan ‘Yeni Emperyalizmin Ekonomisi’ isimli kitabi tartisiyorlar.