Rethinking the political economy of contemporary water struggles in Turkey from a comparative perspective: Space, structures and agency

This dissertation examines role of political economy in contemporary agrarian mobilizations. By focusing on recent water struggles in Turkey against the run-of-the-river hydropower plants (SHPs); the research digs into the societal and economic factors that enable or inhibit the emergence of strong mobilizations through a comparison of reactions against SHP projects in four localities of Eastern Black Sea region. The main logic behind the cross comparison is to find out if there is a relationship between the forms of rural livelihoods; mostly defined in terms of production, marketing, place in the general economic system, migration and viability of space; and political mobilization against SHP construction combined with the other possible reasons leading to an unrest and contention. The research revealed that prior transformation of the rural spaces affects the ways, means and discourses of the local struggles. I argue that spatio-economic transformation of the localities that unevenly transform rural settings in terms of production and consumption activities have impact on the patterns, discourses and agency in the contemporary 'rural' mobilizations. Therefore, the dissertation advocates for a need for theorization of contemporary agrarian mobilization from this perspective by putting the emphasis on the livelihood transformations, transformation and viability of space, commercialization of production and differentiation within the peasantry and the agency.