The role of professional organizations in the decision making process of local governments: The case of Kutahya Municipality

Globalization, which started with the end of the welfare period, and political and administrative developments, especially economic, directly affected the existence and position of the state. The management approach, which adopts a centralist, strict hierarchy, has been replaced by a democratic, participatory, transparent and accountable management approach. This transformation in the administration brought along important changes in the social dimension. Elections held at certain intervals as the product of traditional democracy have been replaced by participatory participation as a stakeholder in decision-making and implementation processes. The concept of governance, which is called multi-actor management, has been integrated into the local by adding a new dimension to management. With the decentralization of democracy and governance, a more democratic state structure is revealed by sharing the governance event with local governments and civil societies. Municipalities and professional organizations play an important role in the realization of local participation and local democracy. The fact that local craftsmen and craftsmen and the professional organizations representing them are in the decision-making processes of municipalities is an important stakeholder in ensuring local participation. In this study, it has been tried to put forward the effects of the municipalities, which are the administrative units closest to the citizens, on the decision-making processes, by considering the professional organizations in Kütahya, which are the means of conveying the demands of the tradesmen and craftsmen in Kütahya to the Municipality of Kütahya.