Municipalism and social policy in Turkey: Çankaya and Keçiören Municipalities

Social policy practices have begun to enter the scope of local governments today. As urbanization rates increase in our country, the areas, types, and beneficiaries of the social policy of local governments are also increasing. The social, economic, and cultural differences of the citizens living within the boundaries of municipalities are important factors in determining their expectations for social policies. In this study, two municipalities governed by different political and ideological understandings were compared. The effects of differences in political and ideological understandings on social municipal practices were examined. The study consists of three parts. In the first part, the main concepts of Social Policy, Social State, and Social Municipalism were examined. In the second part, the understanding and implementation issues of social municipalism in our country were explained. The problems encountered in social municipalism practices in our country were discussed. The historical development of social policy and social municipalism in our country was examined in historical periods until today. In the third part, the historical, economic, political, and social aspects of the Keçiören and Çankaya districts were examined. The "social municipalism" practices of Çankaya Municipality, managed by a mayor from the Republican People's Party, and Keçiören Municipality, managed by a mayor from the Justice and Development Party between 2014 and 2022, were compared. The data used for comparison were obtained from the municipalities' activity reports and strategic plans for the relevant years.