Comparative analysis of the institutional capacities of metropolitan municipalities on strategic plans and annual reports

The New Public Management approach, which envisages the reduction of the responsibilities and jurisdictions of the state in public administration and the use of private sector methods and techniques, has become dominant. With this understanding, the concepts of participation, transparency and governance came to the fore. The areas of authority and responsibility of the metropolitan municipalities, which are one of the local government units established in accordance with the principle of proximity to the public, have increased in recent years and changes have occurred in the provision of services. In the Turkish public administration, the Municipal Law No. 5393 obliges the municipalities with a population of over 50 thousand to make a strategic plan. The institutional capacity of metropolitan municipalities has been analyzed through strategic plans and activity reports within the scope of this thesis. Since the institutional capacity aims to formulate and execute plans and policies in order to fulfill the public purpose, the effect of the institutional capacities of the metropolitan municipalities in the service provision has been the main subject of this thesis. In the thesis, in which the new public administration and public service formed the conceptual framework, the strengths and weaknesses of the metropolitan municipalities, as well as the personnel and budget situations were examined. Strategic plans and annual reports of 10 metropolitan municipalities included in the study were analyzed with 28 codes within the scope of New Public Management, Local Governance and Urban Services theme areas. In the thesis prepared with the qualitative research method, the content analysis technique was used and the document analyzes were carried out through the Atlas.Ti program, which is a qualitative data analysis software. It is among the findings that the metropolitan municipalities that are successful in the fields of new public management and local governance will also be successful in the provision of city services. Keywords Metropolitan Municipalities, Institutional Capacity, Strategic Plan, Annual Report.