Change and Continuity under an Eclectic Social Security Regime: The Case of Turkey

Abstract This article discusses how changes in the welfare regime are shaped by the inherited institutional setting as well as by politics with reference to the particular case of Turkey, where the former social security system combined Bismarckian conservatism with informality and clientelism. Both the reassertion of traditional forms of solidarity and the discovery of social rights as an aspect of equal citizenship figure in the currently emerging social solidarity models. The ability of political actors to defend these contesting models is likely to influence the ongoing transformation of the countryãs eclectic welfare regime. Notes 1. On this point, see B. Palier and M. Claude, 'From "a Frozen Landscape" to Structural Reforms: The Sequential Transformation of Bismarckian Welfare Systems', Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 41, No. 6 (2007), pp. 535–54. Also see B. Palier and K. Thelen, 'Institutionalizing Dualism: Complementarities and Change in France and Germany', Politics J. Pontusson, 'Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World', in J. Cronin, G. Ross and J. Shoch (eds. ), Futures of the Left (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009) ; C. J. Martin and K. Thelen, 'The State and Coordinated Capitalism: Contributions of the Public Sector to Social Solidarity in Post-Industrial Societies', World Politics, Vol. 60 (Oct. 2007), pp. 1–36. 3. M. Molyneux, 'The "Neoliberal Turn" and the New Social Policy in Latin America: How Neoliberal, How New? ', Development and Change, Vol. 39 No. 5 (2008), pp. 775–97; M. Molyneux, 'Mothers at the Service of the New Poverty AgendaProgresa/Oportunidases, Mexico's Condition. al Cash Transfer Programme', Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 40, No. 4 (2006), pp. 425–49; J. Coatsworth, 'Prologue: Leveraging Time and Money: Philanthropy and the Social Deficit in Latin America', in C. Sanborn and F. Portocarrero (eds. ), Philanthropy and Social Change in Latin America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. v–x. I. Gough et al. , Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America: Social Policy in Development Contexts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) ; P. B. Townsend and D. Gordon (eds. ), World Poverty: New Policies to Defeat an Old Enemy (Bristol: The Policy Press, 2002) ; and S. Alvarez, 'Advocating Feminism: The Latin American NGO "Boom"', International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1999), pp. 181–209. 4. Palier and Thelen, 'Institutionalizing Dualism', also F. Filgueira, 'Welfare and Democracy in Latin America: The Development, Crisis and Aftermath of Universal, Dual and Exclusionary Social States', Research Paper, Social Policy and Development Programme Area (Geneva: UNRISD, 2005). 5. M. Daly, 'Governance and Social Policy', Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2003), pp. 113–28. 6. Palier and Martin, 'From "a Frozen Landscape" to Structural Reforms', Filgueira 'Welfare and Democracy in Latin America'. 7. K. Polanyi, Great Transformation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1944). 8. A. Bugra, and K. Agartan, Reading Polanyi for the 21st Century: Market Economy as a Political Project (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007). 9. B. Jessop, 'The Changing Governance of Welfare', Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 33, No. 4 (1999), pp. 343–59. I. Bode, 'Disorganized Welfare Mixes', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2006), pp. 346–59; World Bank World Development Report 1997 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) ; C. E. Smidt, Religion as Social Capital: Producing the Common Good (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2003). 10. See, in particular, G. Standing and M. Samson, A Basic Income Grant for South Africa (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2003) ; and E. M. Suplicy, 'From the Family Scholarship Program towards the Citizen's Basic Income in Brazil', paper presented at the BIEN Congress on Basic Income, Dublin, Ireland, 2008. The last IPSA World Congress of Political Science (July 2009, Santiago, Chile) incorporated a special panel on the Basic Income chaired by Carole Pateman. 11. According to recent estimations, about 20% of the population is without any health insurance coverage including the Green Card scheme that provides means-tested access to health services. See Betam Research Note 039 (Bahcesehir University, 2009) ; Y. Kart, 'Türkiye'nin en maliyetli sosyal politikasının zayıf ve güçlü yanları' The Green Card: Weaknesses and Strengths of Turkey's Most Expensive Social Policy, http: //www. betam. bahcesehir. edu. tr (accessed 8 March 2010). 12. Ankara Ticaret Odası Ankara Chamber of Trade, Sosyal Güvenlik Raporu Social Security Report (2005), http: //www. atonet. org. tr/yeni/index. php? p=288 and Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). 15. M. Ferrera, 'The "Southern Model" of Welfare in Social Europe', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1996), pp. 17–37. 16. I. Gough, 'Social Assistance in Southern Europe', Southern European Society and Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1996), pp. 1–23; F. G. Castles, 'Welfare State Development in Southern Europe', West European Politics, Vol. 8 (1995), pp. 291–313; A. Bugra and C. Keyder, 'Turkish Welfare Regime in Transformation', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2006), pp. 211–28. 17. Bugra and Keyder, 'Turkish Welfare Regime in Transformation'. 18. Ibid. 19. In 2007, people who lived below the official poverty threshold constituted 18. 6% of the population. According to official statistics, the incidence of poverty is even higher among casual workers (27%) and the self-employed (23%), see TurkStat Turkish Statistical Institute Bulletin (2008), Results of the 2007 Poverty Study, http: //www. turkstat. gov. tr/PreHaberBultenleri. do? id=2080 (accessed 8 March 2010). 20. Turkey, Official Gazette, 14 June 1986. 21. Turkey, Parliament Deb. , 454, 16 May 1986, Proposed Law on the Encouragement of Social Cooperation and Solidarity and the Report of the Commission on Plan and Budget. 22. Turkey, Parliament Deb. , reunion 84, session 2, 17 June 1992, p. 364. 23. Conditional Cash Transfer involves providing monthly social assistance to poor families with children on the condition of regular school attendance and vaccination. The target group has been the poorest 6% of the population. The amount of monthly assistance is also very low. Nevertheless, it has been widely observed that the programme has become successful in ensuring that the girls are sent to school and has helped the poorest section of the society to a certain extent. 24. B. Yakut-Cakar, 'Turkey', in B. Deacon and P. Stubbs (eds. ), Social Policy and International Interventions in South East Europe (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2007), pp. 103–29. 25. B. Yazici, 'Social Work and Social Exclusion in Turkey: An Overview', New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 38 (2008), pp. 107–34. 26. Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information, 18 March 2003, The Programme of the 59th Government, http: //www. byegm. gov. tr/icerikdetay. aspx? Id=59 (accessed 8 March 2010). 27. Ibid. Also relevant, AKP Party Programme 5. 8, 2 Feb. 2007, Family and Social Services, http: //eng. akparti. org. tr/english/partyprogramme. html#5. 8 (accessed 8 March 2010). 28. J. White, Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics (Seattle: Washington University Press, 2002). 29. A. Bugra, 'Poverty and Citizenship: An Overview of the Social Policy Environment in Republican Turkey', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 39 (2007), pp. 33–52. 30. See, http: //www. tgtv. org/web/guest/tgtv-uye-listesi (accessed 25 March 2011). 31. In 2003 two conferences on microcredit were held in five-star hotels in Istanbul with massive elite participation: the Conference on the Alleviation of Poverty through the Use of Microcredit, organized by the Turkish Foundation for the Reduction of Waste, Istanbul, 9–10 June 2003 and the Conference on Microfinance: Global Experience and Prospects for Turkey, organized by the International Finance Corporation, Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and Bankgruppe, Istanbul, 2–3 Oct. 2003. The opening address by the prime minister at the first conference and the minister of finance at the second clearly revealed both the prevailing social policy outlook and the place of microcredit within it. 32. Aziz Akgül, member of the parliament from Diyarbakır and the founding director of the Turkish Foundation for the Reduction of Waste (Türkiye Israfı Önleme Vakfı) 33. A. Bugra and S. Adar, 'Social Policy Change in Countries Without Mature Welfare States: The Case of Turkey', New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 38 (2008), pp. 83–106. 34. S. Adar, 'Turkey: Reform in Social Policy', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2007), pp. 167–8. 35. The statistics that were released after the elections show that the amount of social assistance distributed by the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Solidarity had increased threefold in the pre-election period. 36. The prime minister participated in the debate with a statement which was widely quoted in the media, both critically and with approval: 'Charity is legitimate in our culture'. See 'Erdoğan: Sadaka kültürümüzde meşrudur' Erdogan: Charity is legitimate in our culture, Milliyet, 2 Jan. 2009, http: //www. milliyet. com. tr/default. aspx? aType=HaberDetay&ArticleID=1041815 (accessed 8 March 2010). 37. The report of the CHP on the new guaranteed minimum income scheme for the family can be accessed at http: //www. chp. org. tr/wp-content/upload/ailesigortasi. pdf (accessed 25 March 2011). 38. The Draft Constitution prepared by DISK Kaboglu et al. (1 June 2009), Özgürlükçü, Eşitlikçi, Demokratik ve Sosyal Bir Anayasa İçin Temel İlkeler (Anayasa Raporu) Fundamental Principles of a Freedom-generating, Egalitarian, Democratic and Social Constitution (Constitution Report), http: //www. disk. org. tr/contentᵢmages/DiSKanayasa. pdf (accessed 8 March 2010). 39. Ibid. , p. 45. 40. Ibid. , p. 53. 41. KEIG, Türkiye'de Kadın Emeği ve İstihdamı: Sorun Alanları ve Politika Önerileri Female Labour and Employment in Turkey: Problems and Policy Suggestions (Istanbul: KEIG, 2009). 42. 'Evde Bakim Hizmeti ve Bagimsiz Yasam' Care At Home Model and Autonomous Life, Bulent Kucukaslan, 15 Oct. 2007, http: //bianet. org/bianet/toplum/102304-evde-bakim-hizmeti-ve-bagimsiz-yasam (accessed 8 March 2010).