Turkey and the European Union: A Review of Turkey’s Readmission Agreement

Our aim in this article is to analyze Turkey’s Readmission Agreement with the EU in light of Turkey’s membership goal. More specifically, our aim is to propose the most rational political decision for concluding this process. Our study addresses three questions: (1) the impact of the Readmission Agreement on Turkey’s accession negotiations; (2) the outcomes of the implementation of the Readmission Agreement for Turkey; and (3) Turkey’s aim of becoming a full member of the EU by concluding the Agreement. By assessing the three potential scenarios of the Readmission Agreement process—minimum, optimum, and maximum benefit—we conclude that, whereas the first scenario does not coincide with our analysis, the other two, especially the third scenario, do coincide with it. Because the optimum benefit scenario does not disrupt the Readmission Agreement process it appears to be the most rational, balanced and beneficial agreement for both Turkey and the EU.     

4. TECHNOPOLITICS IN THE ARCHIVE: SOVEREIGNTY,RESEARCH, AND EVERYDAY LIFE

This article explores the place of the archive in the context of land claims research. This essay develops a critical approach to identity technopolitics with the aim of helping historians working with indigenous communities to ask new kinds of questions about the relationships and subject positions opened up by archivization and the myriad other technologies of land claims research. Since researchers first began preparing for the Canadian case, Delgamuukw’ and Gisday'wa v. The Queen, four decades ago, the immense stores of documentary evidence generated for the trial have given ground to numerous new claims and conflicts. Tracing the experiences of one prominent Gitxsan historical researcher who has leveraged his own archive and expertise to build genealogies for hundreds of individuals, I explore the intimate disappointments and impossible obligations that indigenous historians must mediate.     

The dynamics of emerging middle-power influence in regional and global governance: the paradoxical case of Turkey

This article attempts to understand the properties, potentials and limits of middle-power activism in a changing global order. Extensive debate on the rise of emerging powers notwithstanding, the potential contributions of emerging middle powers in regional and global governance, and the imminent challenges they face in their struggle for an upgraded status in the hierarchy of world politics, is an understudied issue. This study aims to fill this gap by offering a broad conceptual framework for middle-power activism and testing it with reference to the Turkish case. In this context, the authors aim to address the following questions: What kind of roles can emerging middle powers play in a post-hegemonic international system? What are the dynamics, properties and limitations of emerging middle-power activism in regional and global governance? Based on an extensive study of the Turkish case, the authors’ central thesis is that emerging middle powers can make important contributions to regional and global governance. Their ultimate impact, however, is not inevitable, but depends on a complementary set of conditions, which are outlined in this study.     

The Regulatory State and Turkish Banking Reforms in the Age of Post‐Washington Consensus

The new era of the Post‐Washington Consensus (PWC), promoted under the auspices of International Financial Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, centres on the need to develop sound financial regulation and strong regulatory institutions, especially in the realm of banking and finance in post‐financial crisis developing countries. This article uses an examination of the Turkish banking sector experience with the PWC in the aftermath of the 2001 financial crisis to show its considerable strengths and weaknesses. The authors argue that the emergent regulatory state in the bank‐based financial system has a narrow focus on strengthening prudential regulation, whilst ignoring the increased ‘financialization’ of the Turkish economy. They identify the positive features of the new era of the PWC in terms of prudential regulation, which has become much more robust in its ability to withstand external shocks. At the same time, however, the article highlights some of the limitations of the new era which resemble the limitations of the PWC. These include the distributional impact of the regulatory reforms within the banking sector, and notably the emergence of foreign banks as the major beneficiaries of this process; weaknesses in promoting productive bank intermediation that finance the real economy and economic growth, leading to poverty reduction via growth of employment whilst stimulating financialization within the economy; and finally, the exclusive focus on prudential regulation, whilst ignoring regulatory costs, consumer protection and competition regulation.     

The Impact of Public Capital Stock on Regional Convergence in Turkey

The effect of public capital on regional output and private sector productivity has been the subject of considerable research in the field of regional development literature. However, there have been only a few studies that develop linkages between public capital and regional economic convergence. This study examines the dynamic effects of public capital and transportation capital stocks on output per capita in terms of regional convergence in Turkey at NUTS 2 level. A conditional convergence model based on per capita gross domestic product and per capita public capital and transportation capital stocks is estimated using the panel data set for the Turkish regions for the time period of 1980–2001. The results reveal that public capital has a positive and significant effect on output per capita and thus on regional convergence in some of the models in the Turkish regions,. However, the transportation component of public capital stock has a negative effect on regional convergence in all models employed in the study. This implies that transportation capital stock leads to larger regional disparities between the Turkish regions.     

The Significance of Networking and Company Size in the Level of Creativeness of Tourism Companies: Antalya Case

The importance of creativeness and networking in the attainment of global competitiveness has been emphasized in local development literature. The level of creativeness of a company is influenced by its level of networking at both global and local levels, as well as its “institutional thickness”. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of local, global and associational networking, as well as company size, in the contribution of tourism companies to the level of their creativeness. Following a different approach from previous research, this paper addresses the tourism dimension of networking and creativeness not only to tourism but also to local development literature by providing empirical evidence and employing a quantitative method of analysis based on a firm-level survey. The findings of the paper reveal that there is a relationship not only between the associational and global levels of networking and creativeness, but also between the size of a tourism company and its level of creativeness. Based on these findings, this paper emphasizes the need of a tourism company to develop networks at global levels in particular, but also at local and associational levels, to develop creative practices and to facilitate the sustainable development of tourism regions.     

Two Early Archaic Shipwrecks at Kekova Adası and Kepçe Burnu,Turkey

During its annual surveys of the Turkish coast in the 1970s and 1980s, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology discovered two early Archaic (7th‐ to early‐6th‐century BC) shipwrecks at Kekova Adas? (Antalya region) and Kepçe Burnu (Mu?la region); Dokuz Eylül University's Institute of Marine Science and Technology is currently involved in survey of the region. The wrecks, marked by a primary cargo of basket‐handle amphoras, indicate exchange between Cyprus and the cities of coastal Asia Minor and Corinth. Such Iron Age internationalism may have been driven by an interest in processed agricultural goods such as olive oil. © 2010 The Authors     

Dynamics of Value Chain Governance: Increasing Supplier Competence and Changing Power Relations in the Periphery of Automotive Production—Evidence from Bursa,Turkey

Adopting a global value chain (GVC) approach, this paper focuses on the ways in which global automotive transnational corporations coordinate their value chains with suppliers in the periphery of automotive production. In particular, it directs attention to particular forms of chain relations established by lead firms with suppliers in Turkey and the ways in which these chains are coordinated. Findings indicate that as component suppliers in the periphery of automotive production, such as those in Bursa, have gained the competencies not only to manufacture to the cost, quality and flexibility specifications required by their customers but also of design and product development, lead firms in the automotive industry have turned to modular value chains, where competent suppliers provide a range of services with less dependence on their customers, as a way of sourcing from these suppliers. I use this evidence to argue that GVC governance is dynamic and suppliers in the periphery have some room for breaking power asymmetries associated with specific modes of governance in GVCs.     

5. TIME GARDENS: HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY

This article argues for the analysis of temporal concepts such as “age,” “century,” and “epoch,” “past,” “present,” and “future,” formed during the Enlightenment, as an approach to the study of the history of modern historiography. Starting from the basic distinction of “empty” and “embodied” time in Leibniz's and Newton's dispute of 1715 about the philosophical nature of time, it traces the episteme of the eighteenth century using the metaphor of a “time garden” for describing some basic features of enlightened historiography. Finally, the paper discusses the consequences of the increasing employment of concepts of embodied time for the future development of the historical sciences.     

Some Discussions on Data-Driven Testing of Ground-Motion Prediction Equations under the Turkish Ground-Motion Database

Data-driven testing of ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) can help researchers in the ranking and selection of GMPEs for seismic hazard assessment. This paper presents and discusses the details of the major features of well-known testing methods which employ likelihood and Euclidean distance concepts. A set of local, regional, and global GMPEs are assessed under a ground-motion database. The data-driven testing of GMPEs is supported by thorough residual analyses under the database, providing valuable insights into the testing of GMPEs. The researchers are advised to evaluate all options together instead of focusing on a specific tool to build well-structured ground-motion logic trees.