European Union's financial support to civil society in Turkey: A social constructivist assessment

In the contemporary democratic system, the civil society functions as a fundamental tool for legitimacy that constrains the political authority. It plays a two-way role to establish the relationship between the state and society by both operating in the field of politics and triggering the change in cultural and social life. Starting from the Ancient Greek age to the present time, the concept of civil society has constantly evolved in line with the Western political tradition, and a change in the mission entrusted to the civil society implies a corresponding change in its conceptual framework, as well. Today's Continental European civil society still focuses mainly on the economic interest, however, values also play a constitutive role in those organizations. For the European Union, NGOs as interest/value organizations are important stakeholders to be supported by allocating certain amount of funds for their projects during the Europeanization process, especially for the deepening aspect. From a social constructionist perspective one can say that especially in the transmission of norms and values and the construction of European identity the civil society has a constitutive function for individuals and provides necessary conditions for social learning. Even for the founding countries, Europeanization is an ongoing process that will never end. The EU has still been building a European identity through the civil society both for its members and candidate countries. However, the financial support programs initiated to achieve that goal do not give the expected results so far. At that point, from a social constructionist perspective the civil society financial support programs launched by the EU in Turkey, as a case study, reveal the gap between the rhetoric and the practice of the EU in transmitting social norms and values and building a collective identity.