Suchergebnisse

ÖzetDemokratik ülkelerde Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları (STK'lar) toplumun önemli birer öğesi haline geldi; bir ülkede demokrasi seviyesi yükseldikçe STK'ların sayısı, kalitesi ve etkinlikleri de artmaktadır. Bu nedenle bu tezin baş tarafında "sivil toplum" ve "demokrasi" kavramlarının tarih boyunca gelişmesi incelendi. Antik Yunan'dan başlayarak, günümüze kadar birçok filozof bu iki kavramın gelişmesi için çalışmalar yaptılar.Avrupa'daki feodal yapıda şehir-devletler arasında ticari faaliyetlerin arttığı 11. yüzyıldan itibaren Sivil Toplum kuruluşları oluşmaya başladı; ticari faaliyetler arttıkça tüccarlar daha zenginleşti ve toplumlar içindeki etkinlikleri arttı. Özellikle İtalya ve İngiltere'de bilimsel sivil toplum kuruluşları 17. asrın ortalarında çok etkin hale gelmişlerdi ve bir çok bilimsel buluşu gerçekleştirdiler. Batı Avrupa ülkelerindeki bazı krallar bu kuruluşları cesaretlendiriyor ve hatta mali yönden destekliyorlardı. Halbuki Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda ilk sivil toplum örgütü 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından sonra, yani Avrupa'daki bilimsel NGO'lardan 200 yıl sonra, kurulabilmişti. Bu gecikmenin ana sebebi Osmanlı yöneticilerinin kafa yapısında yatmaktadır; onlar eğer sivil toplumun örgütlenmesine izin verirlerse toplum üzerindeki otoritelerinin bir kısmını onlara devretmek zorunda kalacaklarından korkuyorlardı.Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda ve daha sonra Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'ndeki STK sayısı, yönetim şekli daha demokratik yapıya kavuştukça arttı; aynı zamanda bunların kamu oyu oluşturulmasındaki etkinlikleri de buna paralel olarak arttı. Türkiye sosyal ve politik standartlarını Avrupa Birliği (AB) kriterlerine uydurmak amacıyla geliştirdiği son dönemde STK'ların prestij ve etkinlikleri daha da arttı. AB; Türkiye'yi Avrupalılaştırma projesi çerçevesinde Türkiye'deki STK'ların etkinliklerini arttırmak için, bunların hazırlayıp yönettiği projeleri AB fonlarından desteklemektedir.Bu günlerde Türkiye'de on binlerce STK vardır; kamu oyunu oluşturmalarındaki etkinlik ve Türkiye'nin AB'ye tam üye olarak katılabilmesi için yaptıkları etkin lobi faaliyetleri nedeniyle bunların bazıları kamuoyu tarafından çok iyi tanınmaktadır. Bu tezde kamu oyu tarafından daha az bilinen fakat yönettikleri projeleri AB fonlarından desteklenen ve lobi faaliyetleri ile etkili olan bazı STK'lar örnek olarak sunulmuştur. Böyle bir seçim yapılmasının sebeplerinden biri STK'ların ne kadar yaygınlaşmış olduğunu göstermektir, diğer bir neden de STK'lar tarafından oluşturulup yönetilen projeler için ne gibi AB fonlarınınmevcut olduğu konusunda bilgi vermektir.AbstractNon Governmental Organizations (NGOs) became one of the important tools of civil society in democratic countries; as the level of democracy improved in a country, number, quality and effectiveness of NGOs are also increased. For this reason historical developments of the concepts of "civil society" and "democracy" are studied at the beginning of the thesis. Starting in the ancient Greek period many philosophers helped to improve these two concepts through out the history.Civil society associations started to be formed in Europe in the 11th century, when the commerce among the city-states of feudalist Europe increased; they became more effective as they became wealthier. Scientific associations were very effective in the realization of many scientific inventions especially in Italy and in England in the mid 17th century. Even some kings in Western Europe encouraged and financially supported some of these scientific associations. Where as the first NGO in Ottoman Empire could be established only in the second half of the 19th century; 200 years later than these scientific NGOs in Europe. The reason for this delay was in the mentality of the Ottoman administrators; they were afraid of loosing some of their authority over the public if they would allow the establishment of the civil society associations.Number of NGOs in the Ottoman Empire and later in the Republic of Turkey increased as the governing regimes get more democratic and they became more effective in forming the public opinion; their prestige and effectiveness are further increased after Turkey started to alter its social and political standards towards the EU criterion. EU is helping the Turkish NGOs to increase their effectiveness by supporting their projects through EU founds as a part of its Europeanization policy.There are tens of thousands of NGOs in Turkey in these days; some of them are very well known with their effectiveness in forming public opinion and/or with their lobbying activities, especially lobbying for the acceptance of Turkey as a full member to EU. In this thesis some of the less popular NGOs are presented with their projects which are supported by EU founds and with their lobbying activities. One of the reasons for this selection is to emphasize the spread of NGOs all over the country, another reason is to indicate the types of founds available for the projects which are led by the NGOs.

The New EU Directive on Environmental Liability provides for the system of liability for damage to the environment provoked by human activity. The Directive further provides for direct application of polluter-pays principles, the concept of environmental damage and a variety of preventive and remedial actions. The underlying principle of the Directive is the establishment of financial liability of the operators whose actions provoke environmental damage or the danger of occurrence of the environmental damage, all with the aim to stimulate such operators to adopt appropriate measures and procedures to diminish of environmental risks and therefore decrease their disposure to the environmental liability. Directive is applicable to the operators of the ?regulated activities?, which includes the majority of industries. Directive is relating only to the future environmental damages occurred after its entry in force. Directive adopts strict liability for the operators of the activities dangerous to the environment applicable to any and all environmental damage, whereas for the operators of all other activities the fault-based liability applies and only in respect to the environmental damage of the ecosystem. Operators are not liable for damage provoked by third party, damage occurred regardless of the implementation of the appropriate protection procedures or damage in case of a force majeure event. Also, operators can waive responsibility invoking the so-called ?state of art defense?, i.e. arguing that the harmful action was considered environmental friendly by the time of its occurrence. Another waiver from the responsibility, the so-called permit defense is possible in case whereof environmental damage is provoked by the action which was made in accordance with the issued permit/state authorization. Directive obliges the operators to inform relevant authorities of environmental damage risks which occur due to the operators? activities, as well as to undertake appropriate measures of control, limitation, security, removal of harmful effects and risk/damage management. Directive defines the preventive measures as the measures instituted in response to an event, action or failure to act which created the threat of environmental damage, which measures aim to prevent or mitigate the consequences of such environmental damage. Directive further defines remedial measures as measures or combination of measures, including risk/damage management and provisional measures, with the aim to revoke, rehabilitate or replace damaged natural resources. Directive recommends to the Member States to encourage the operators to contract appropriate insurances and other financial cover from liability. Bearing in mind the development of environmental liability issue, it is uncertain whether and how will the insurance companies build new insurance policies in alternative to the classical insurance from civil responsibility which is only in small part applicable to the environmental damages. The same can be said for the financial market itself, knowing that the entire success of the Directive depends on the financial capacities of the operators to assume the liabilities introduced by the Directive. Pursuant to the Directive, companies shall have to bear themselves the risks of removal of consequences of environmental damage. We are of opinion that a respectable company cannot afford non-cooperation with the authorities, otherwise it risks refusal of work permits, investigations and inspections, refusal of state loans and other benefits. In the aim of prevention of environmental damage, the company management would need to develop internal rules and regulations on environmental protection and environmental policy of the company. Although we admit that Directive creates some preconditions for efficient and uniform implementation of the environmental protection and the achievement of sustainable development within the EU, we believe that Directive can help the prevention of environmental damage only in combination with corresponding fiscal and administrative privilege given to the companies willing to introduce and apply preventive environmental measures.