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In recent years, there has been an increase in the international activities of local governments in Turkey. Local governments conduct international activities by establishing sister city relations, becoming members of international organizations, and signing cooperation protocols, and memoranda of understanding/goodwill letters. The present study aimed to investigate the activities regarding the international activities of local governments in Turkey. In the study, lectures on international activities, following the description of theoretical, historical and legal backgrounds of international relations, the statistical data on the activities of local governments in Turkey are presented, and some observations and assessments were made through the information obtained from the relevant unit managers of six metropolitan municipalities in Turkey which have the strongest memberships in international organizations. As a result, it was determined that there has been an increase in the number of international activities of local governments in Turkey, memberships to these organizations have been effectively carried out, the municipalities have become a member of international organizations which are expected to benefit from, a purpose was determined by these municipalities before becoming a member, and these municipalities have become stakeholders of international organizations and have gained significant benefits through these joint projects.

This article discusses the recent debate between Jürgen Habermas and Wolfgang Streeck on the relationship between capitalism and democracy in Europe. The article recounts Streeck's analysis of the financial crisis, the transformation of the tax state into the debt state, and the development of the EU towards an international consolidation state, which informs Streeck's call for a retreat from Europe to the nation-state as the last line of defense against neoliberal capitalism. The article proceeds to sketch Habermas's criticism of Streeck's argument, and it illustrates how Habermas' proposal for a reconstitution of the EU as a supranational democracy is motivated by foundational concerns in his critical theory of society. Finally, the article argues that the debate results in an unresolved dilemma: while only a democratized EU can reestablish the supremacy of politics over globalized markets, the EU is more likely to become further entrenched as an international consolidation state.