The politics of de-delegation: Regulatory (in)dependence in Turkey (original) (raw)

Independence and Accountability of Independent Regulatory Agencies: The Case of Turkey

For a long time, governments have delegated their regulatory powers to independent regulatory agencies (IRAs). The aim is to reduce transaction costs and to ensure a credible commitment in the regulatory institutional structure. This paper discusses transition to IRAs in Turkey in terms of independence and accountability. To this aim, we firstly analyze the institutional foundations of transition to IRAs in Turkey from a political economy perspective and then measure their formal independence levels. We find that the pragmatic policies of the incumbent government regarding IRAs negatively influence their independence. This injures the credibility of regulatory commitment and increases the political transaction costs of regulatory process in Turkey.

Independence and Accountability of Regulatory Agencies in Turkey

ECPR Conference on Regulatory Governance. Bath, UK: University of Bath, 2006

One of the most salient issues regarding independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) is how to ensure their accountability without undermining their independence that is deemed essential for the fulfillment their mandates. This, so called “independence-accountability dilemma”(Priest 1998; Scott 2000), is a fundamental issue concerning distribution of power and legitimatization of the use of power. Thus, designing a regulatory framework that instigates “the right balance between independence and accountabililty”(Majone 2005a: ...

The Political Economy of Independent Regulatory Agencies in Turkey

2011

The chapter analyses transition to IRAs in Turkey from two different viewpoints. Main reasons for delegation of the regulatory discretion to IRAs are to reduce political transaction costs and to ensure a credible commitment. In this context, the first section of the chapter examines the meaning of political transaction costs and regulatory commitment in terms of independence of IRAs during delegation process of the discretion to IRAs in the Turkish experience. This section also contains lessons from the Turkish energy industries. The second section only evaluates formal independence levels of IRAs in Turkey. Thus, the chapter reveals formal independence of IRAs in Turkey and presents a comparative analysis among them.

The formal independence of regulatory authorities in Turkey

International Journal of Management and Network Economics, 2013

Turkey has experienced important institutional transformation during the last decades. A substantial part of this transformation is the establishment of independent regulatory authorities. Their independence from political power has attracted debate among the public from time to time. In 2011, massive legal amendments changed the Turkish public administration structure including IRAs. The aim of this paper is to assess effects of these legal amendments on IRAs' independence. To consider effects of those legal amendments on formal independence, a formal independence index is calculated before and after legal amendments for seven IRAs. The results show that formal independence index scores calculated after legal amendments in 2011 are lower than formal independence index scores calculated before those amendments.

The rise of independent administrative authorities in Turkey: A close look on sources, successes and challenges of this new institutional transformation

22nd European Regional ITS Conference, Budapest …, 2011

On the other hand, new institutional environment is far from perfect. There are some serious risks and deficits. First, legal ambiguities between regulatory agencies may create power struggles and inefficiency. Secondly, having independent regularity authorities and new laws alone does not mean a guarantee for expected effective results. Finally, political class in Turkey is a myopic behaviour and their understanding has very serious short comings. Especially, I argue that the political commitment to support those independent administrative authorities by political elites is limited. I believe that the role of independent administrative authorities and the reorganization of Turkish traditional state structure towards regulatory state will continue to be debated in near future. I.

Independent regulatory authorities in Turkish public administration

First examples of institutions called as independent regulatory authorities or agencies and being outside of the classic administrative structure have emerged in Anglo-Saxon countries. Starting from 1970s, these institutions have also started to be given place also in some countries in continental Europe. Together with the influence of globalization process and developments occurring in the field of public administration in 1980s, regulatory functions of the government became prominent. In this process, independent regulatory authorities began to spread rapidly as new actors of this function. While weakening the state as an economic actor, liberalisation and privatization policies, strengthened the regulatory role of the state since 1980s in Turkey. To play this new role, independent regulatory authorities began to show presence as administrative institutions carrying unique features in terms of structuring and staying outside of the classical organization of administration. Independent regulatory authorities also undertook the role of minimizing the problems emerging due to populist attitudes of governments and loosening the ties between politics and economics in especially strategically important areas (energy, capital market, banking business). The common feature of these authorities is considered as being autonomous administrative units undertaking " regulation " and " supervision " activities in the fields and sectors like competition, banking, finance, communication, human rights, food and drug safety. In this study, after giving general information about the independent regulatory authorities,the debate on determining constitutional position of these authorities in Turkish Public Administration system will be handled and evaluated.

Bureaucracies under Authoritarian Pressure: Destabilizations, Politicization, and Bureaucratic Subjectivities in Contemporary Turkey

International Journal of Law in Context, 2022

Drawing an ethnographic research in Istanbul, Turkey, this article traces the causes and implications of the politicization of bureaucrats in the context of authoritarianization. It argues that politicization of bureaucrats cannot solely be taken as a reflection of the erosion of bureaucratic autonomy and capacity but must be explored further to reveal how bureaucrats cope with authoritarian pressure as well socio-legal destabilisations to preserve their institutional ethos. The article generates insights into the fashionings of political subjectivities and agency by bureaucrats through their labouring in the face of authoritarian interventions, legal disruptions, and the increasing interactions with the citizenry. Doing this, my objective is to shed light into the everyday workings of authoritarian state and to get a better picture of the way the law is ‘made real’ (Latour 2002) across mundane encounters between bureaucrats and the citizenry.

Examining Sources of Conflicts Behind Institutional Change: The Case of Turkish Regulatory Reforms Since 1999

papers.ssrn.com

Banking Law no 4389 (1999, effective in 2000) Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) Regulate the banking sector, prevent bad loans, protect rights of savings owners, enable the functioning of the credit system, delegating the right to allocate banking permits to the IRA Public Procurement Law no 4734 (2002) Public Procurement Agency (PPA) Eliminate politicised tenders, create a transparent framework for competitive bidding Energy Law no 4628 and 4646 (2001) Energy Market Regulation Agency (EMRA) Achieve full privatisation and liberalisation, establish a competitive framework in the energy sector, eliminate Treasury guarantees Telecommuni cation Law no 4502 (2000) Telecommunication Agency (TA) Achieve full liberalisation in and regulate the telecommunication sector