Europeanisation of Employment Policy in Turkey: Tracing Domestic Change through Institutions, Ideas and Interests

Europeanisation of policy-making in Turkey and its limits1

“…Existing research on other policy areas in Turkey provides limited clues as to how domestic interests shape the direction, content and magnitude of the EU's impact on policy outcomes. This research shows that domestic institutions, too, filter these effects, producing unintended outcomes (Bolukbasi and Ertugal, 2013). We therefore need further empirical research focusing on the implementation stages of policy processes in all policy sectors -only then, we believe, can we have a complete picture of the EU's impact on policy outcomes.…”

“…We would like to thank Caner Bakır and an anonymous reviewer for their incisive comments and insightful suggestions. 2 The 'policy structure approach' aims to unpack the key features of a given policy by focusing on principles governing the policy, policy objectives, procedures in policy-making and governance, and instruments at the disposal of the policy (Bolukbasi and Ertugal, 2013based on Hall, 1993and Graziano, 2011. 3 In the public policy literature, 'policy intensity' refers to the intensity of intervention in a given policy area measured in 'the level and scope of governmental intervention' ('substantive intensity') and 'administrative capacities' (including 'financial, personnel and organisational resources') and 'administrative procedures' ('formal intensity').…”

Piecing Together the ‘Turkish Puzzle’ on Female Labour Force Participation: Comparative Insights from Southern Europe

“…Most studies on Turkey categorise the Turkish welfare state regime and labour market regime to resemble those in Southern Europe. Common institutional features that are emphasised in this literature include a 'state-influenced' 'Mixed Market Economy'; highly fragmented and hierarchical corporatist system of interest intermediation; adversarial industrial relations with state-controlled wage bargaining; welfare state provision based on occupational and employment status; a high degree of labour market segmentation with high employment protection in the primary segment alongside a highly flexible secondary segment, part of which (informal employment) is not covered under labour law; prominence of self-employment and unpaid family labour; an inadequate level of social protection through splintered social security and social assistance schemes, still pension heavy with an inegalitarian character and the centrality of family in welfare provision (Gough 1996;Gough et al 1997;Buğra & Keyder 2006;Grütjen 2008;Gal 2010;Bolukbasi 2012;Bolukbasi & Ertugal 2013. Based on similarities of regime-specific characteristics, we thus study all cases in the entire universe of cases in Southern Europe.…”

Policy translation in Turkish disability policy: The role and limitations of international organisations

“…Disability policy in Turkey is used as a case study to highlight this to see how the evolving understanding of disability mainstreaming 2 is translated into the domestic context. There is a growing literature on the influence of IOs on domestic policies (Bolukbasi and Ertugal, 2013; Jacoby, 2006; Ladi, 2011; Pal and Ireland, 2009; Schofer and Meyer, 2005; Sharman, 2008; Steunenberg, 2007; True and Mintrom, 2001). However, very little attention has been paid to the role of domestic actors in this process.…”