Socio-economic impacts of development plans of Turkey: The case of Istanbul Development Agency

In this thesis, development plans of Turkey and socio-economic efficacy of development-oriented investments are attempted to be studied. Economic growth is a necessary measure for development; but it is far from enough. Development as a concept not only concerns with prosperity of one nation, but also with global development organizations, incentive and reform programs, and cooperation organizations that impact developing countries in particular. Development and growth plans that ignore global competition, hinder long-term, sustainable development. However, following the footsteps of competition solely with a uniform model doesn't always bring desired outcome; because nations have their unique social and institutional structures. Moreover, components forming society, and traditional structures affect economic performance of individuals and society as a whole. In other words, it is impossible to treat economic structure apart from social structures. The term "new regionalism", which arose with the impact of globalization, first focused on economic growth of a region. Yet, in a short time it ended up with the realization that socio-economic development of citizens of a region would bring about sustainable development. To guide the process toward desired goals, Regional Development Agencies were born. Regional policies started to take a planned path beginning from the 1960's in Turkey. At first, these policies were shaped by the goal of obviating inequalities among regions; by the '90s, however, they shifted the central attention to economic concerns, reflecting the case on the global stage. Within this scope, Regional Development Agencies, which in 2006 were accepted to be established, without remaining limited with the economic sphere, "arose as a necessity of social state conception", as stated in its founding legislation. In the thesis, Istanbul Development Agency specifically is aimed to be analyzed, and its utilization of economic capital, the structure within social capital relations, impact to regional society, extent of influence received from global and cultural values are attempted to be studied. To this end, this thesis attempts to paint a picture of the Agency's approach to the concept of development, and scope of activities by analyzing related legislations, statements in official development programs, and documents published by Istanbul Development Agency itself, employing document analysis and in-depth interviews techniques. Its thus predicted that the study won't be limited to this thesis and makes way for new niches to be studied. Accordingly, the data obtained as a result of the research depict that the Istanbul Development Agency is an institution that incorporates the contemporary structure which is shaped by both local and global values. While the agency adapts the principle of participation shaped by the governance approach on the corporate plane, the practice of representativeness has shrunk over time. However, it continued to address a wide range of projects. On the other hand, it is difficult to say that the agency fully embraces the elements of the governance approach when its bureaucratic operations and the challenges associated with it are considered. From a broad perspective, there are assessments that the agency offers opportunities that will benefit development of Istanbul. Key Words: Development, Globalization, New-regionalism, Regional Development, Regional Development Agency, Istanbul Development Agency