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University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF SOCIAL, HUMAN AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Department of Politics and International Relations The Changing Roles of Governors and District Governors in Turkey, 2000-2014 by Ozan BALCI Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015 ABSTRACT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF SOCIAL, HUMAN AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Department of Politics and International Relations Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Changing Roles of Governors and District Governors in Turkey, 2000-2014 Ozan BALCI This thesis explores how and to what extent the public administration reforms introduced in the 2000s have affected the roles of governors and district governors in Turkey and to identify the intended and unintended consequences of the public administration reforms and their implications for roles of governors and district governors. This topic is important because in 2001, Turkey was hit by a large economic crisis which affected the country negatively. After that economic crisis, many public administration reforms, which were inspired by some of the ideas of the New Public Management, were introduced in the 2000s in Turkey in order to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, transparency, openness and accountability of the public administration and the delivery of public services by reconstructing how the public administration operates. The public administration reforms have changed the structure, roles, and responsibilities of both the central and local governments, as well as the traditional understanding of the public administrators. After these reforms were implemented, the main administrative structure of the provincial administrative system was shaken, with the roles, powers, responsibilities, and even the reason for the governors and district governors' existence being called into question. This research is done by conducting both a survey (with 304 out of the 1426 responding) and semi-structured elite interviews with 65 governors, deputy governors, and district governors. i The major findings of the research are, firstly, that the classical traditional and historically important roles and powers of the governors and district governors have been eroded with local governments gaining power and roles at their expense. So, secondly, the mayors are now more prominent than the civil administrators. Three further effects on governors and district governors are found. One is that their roles have become increasingly politicised and the other is that they have had to shift their philosophy from the state-centric view to the citizen-centric one. And lastly, new roles have emerged. ii Contents ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... i Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables..................................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xi DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ........................................................................ xii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... xiii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Purpose of the Study and the Research Question ........................................ 3 1.3 The Significance of the Study and Contribution to the Field ............................. 5 1.4 The Status of New Public Management Theory in the Thesis ............................ 6 1.5. Main Findings and their Importance ................................................................... 7 1.6. Outline of the Research ....................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: THE TURKISH ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE, THE GOVERNORS AND DISTRICT GOVERNORS ...................................... 11 2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 11 2.2. The Turkish Administrative Structure .............................................................. 11 2.3. The Provincial Administration System (PAS) .................................................. 14 2.3.1. The Principle of Deconcentration ....................................................... 16 iii 2.4. The Province ..................................................................................................... 16 2.5. The District ....................................................................................................... 17 2.6. The Governors .................................................................................................. 19 2.6.1. Appointment to the Governorship ...................................................... 20 2.6.2. The Main Roles and Powers of the Governors ................................... 22 2.7. The District Governors ..................................................................................... 25 2.7.1. The Main Roles and Powers of the District Governors ...................... 26 2.7.2. The Differences between the Governors’ Roles and the District Governors’ Roles ................................................................................ 29 2.7.3. How Can One Become a District Governor? ..................................... 29 2.8. The Deputy Governors ...................................................................................... 32 2.9. The Importance of the Governors and District Governors in the Public Administration System and Their Place in the Eyes of Society ....................... 33 2.10. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 38 CHAPTER 3: THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................... 40 3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 40 3.2. Sources of Literature ......................................................................................... 41 3.3. The Impacts of Socio-Economic and Political Developments on Roles .......... 43 3.4. The Local Governments and the Roles of the Governors and District Governors .......................................................................................................................... 48 3.5. The Politicisation of the Governors and District Governors ............................ 51 3.6. Changes in the Roles and Traditional Understanding of Administration ......... 52 3.7. The Role of Modernisation and its Impact ....................................................... 54 iv 3.8. Changes in the Paternal Role ............................................................................ 57 3.9. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 59 CHAPTER 4: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY ................................................... 62 4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 62 4.2. The Traces of the New Public Management Theory in the Turkish Public Administration Reform Process ........................................................................ 62 4.3. The New Public Management Theory and its Main Elements ......................... 65 4.4. The Unintended and Intended Consequences ................................................... 68 4.5. Research Design: A Mixed Methods Approach ............................................... 70 4.6. Data Sources and Data Collection Activities .................................................... 73 4.6.1. Survey ................................................................................................. 73 4.6.1.1. Questionnaire Design ....................................................................... 73 4.6.1.2. The Pilot Survey ............................................................................... 75 4.6.1.3. Participants ....................................................................................... 77 4.6.1.4. Administering the Main Survey
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