The change in development policies and its impact on the public administration

The idea of development and resulting development policies were influential in the world to a considerable extent between the years of 1945 and 1980. This phenomenon was due to the increase in the number of independent states stemming from decolonisation, and specific political and economic conditions of the Cold War. Many underdeveloped countries initiated state-led development programmes with the support of either of the two blocks of the Cold War. Within the Western block, World Bank and similar international institutions promoted import substituting industrialisation in underdeveloped countries. These efforts required an enhanced role for the state in economic and social spheres. Public administration was also organized to meet this comprehensive role of the state However, this political and economic model prevalent in the greater part of the world run into the crisis as a result of the recession experienced in the Western developed countries in late 1970s. In this study, changes in development policies are treated as the part of wider socio-economic framework from a political economy perspective. Consequences of these changes are followed through economy, state structure and public administration in the Turkish case. It is concluded that neo-liberal global trends and concomitant changes in development thinking are the major driving force to transform the state and the public administration in Turkey. As a result, observed structural changes in the Turkish public administration are the reflections of the state?s withdrawal of national development objective and restructure itself to support a market based socio-economic system. Key Worlds: 1) Development Policies, 2) Public Administration, 3) Neo-liberalism, 4) Governance.