Social assistance as an instrument of political patronage in Turkey

In this dissertation, the use of social assistance is questioned as a tool of political patronage. A clear-cut understanding of the terms patronage, social assistance and faith based organisation is important as a preliminary effort for this research. Identifying the existence of social assistance through a historical process and its political ramification reveal the big picture on political patronage. In addition to secondary sources such as statistical information and reports the field work undertaken provides important contributions to the literature as primary data. After briefly discussing the relationship between social assistance and patronage in Turkish political life, the thesis focuses on the period of Justice and Development Party governments. In-depth interviewing is used during field work conducted among social assistance actors. Interview data are assessed in two categories: The presence of political patronage in the field of social assistance and the relationship between social assistance actors. The section examining the relationship also questions the "indirect political patronage" which is used for the first time in the literature. Another first in the study is its use of "dependency" as an indicator of political patronage.