The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic process on the understanding and practices of social municipality: The example of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality

In the last quarter of the 20th century, with the emergence of the phenomenon of globalization and the adoption of the neoliberal approach, the idea that public expenditures and tax increases within the scope of the welfare state understanding are the main cause of the economic and social crisis becomes widespread and the welfare state understanding starts to erode relatively, especially in practice. The phenomenon of localization, which has developed in parallel with globalization, has led to the share of the state's social policy-producing dutie to local stakeholders. At the same time, the discourses of privatization, local democracy and governance in the world conjuncture mark the 2000s. In Turkey, developments in the world are followed, and the economy is opened to foreign markets, a free market order is tried to be established, and the privatization process is initiated since the 1980s. In this way, the social state concept remains in the background and social expenditures are restricted. While this situation makes it inevitable for local governments to take on the task of producing social policies, it also makes it possible for the 'social' qualities of municipalities to come to the fore since the 2000s. The Covid-19 pandemic emerges at a time when the understanding of the social state has relatively lost its influence and the understanding of social municipalism is handled in the context of social assistance and social services. In this study, qualitative and descriptive research methods are used to examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the understanding and practices of social municipalism. The aim is to fill the current gap in the literature and to provide social scientists with a new perspective by examining the understanding and practices of social municipalism of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic within the scope of the study. As a result of the qualitative data obtained from the interviews with the relevant Directorates in Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, positive aspects such as the development of many social projects and services during the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and within the scope of social municipalism approach, the diversification of service areas due to the expansion of the disadvantaged segment and the start of the digitalization process are identified. In addition, some negative aspects are identified in terms of budget, personnel and transportation deficiencies. It is concluded that socioeconomic, socio-cultural, and psychosocial areas should not be ignored in addition to social assistance and social services in the process of producing social policies by eliminating the deficiencies to maintain the functionality of the social municipalism understanding, the importance of which is once again understood with the Covid-19 pandemic.