An increasing amount of attention has been devoted to understanding the role of civil society in the global politics, although little has been done to identify and analyze conditions under which civil society can function as agents of democratization and development. This article reviews this changing discourse that acknowledges civil society as an independent actor and the approaches to define "the enabling environment" for civil society development. The main part of the contribution presents the findings of an empirical investigation demonstrating the situation of enabling environment for civil society in Turkey in the EU accession process. Three major tenets of enabling environment are assessed: (1) Operational activity (law on associations and foundations, problems in registration, disproportionate audit, lack of statistical data/ consistent policy towards CSOs); (2) Speech and advocacy (freedom of expression, internet regulation and pressure on social networks); (3) Freedom of Assembly (constitutional rights, law on meeting and demonstrations, responses to Gezi protests). The empirical data is drawn from Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) publications2 on these dimensions and Monitoring Reports drafted by TUSEV within project entitled Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development Project funded by the European Union
El artículo examina la situación general de la Sociedad Civil en Turquía desde el punto de vista legislativo así como la capacidad de acción dentro del sistema.
Turkey, civil society, European Union, accession process, NGO, Economic interest groups. - This thesis discusses the changing roles non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and economic interest groups in governing Europeanization process of Turkey, as the accession country is under investigation here. The analysis of civil society involvement in this process provides opportunity to test the extent and limits of EU impact on civil society environment in accession states. The EU impact is in direct or indirect forms and leads to changes in the political opportunity structure by (a) dictating participatory mechanisms through acquis related mechanisms (b) building capacities of civil society by funding mechanisms (c) allowing transnational exchanges (d) injecting new ideas to the policy and politics realms. The EU's intervention in the domestic political setting acts to facilitate the socialization of non-state actors of accession states with the norms, rules ideas promoted by the EU and capacity based initiatives. In this way, civil society can develop new roles and/or internalize new identities. This research intends to determine the conditions under which the EU can socialize agents in the accession process. This study subscribes to the Europeanization research, but also maintains major reservations concerning top-down research designs developed to understand the domestic impact of the EU. This thesis aims to engage in theoretical puzzle on the limits of the EU impact or its differential consequences. The independent variable is the empowerment mechanism that the accession process brings to non-state actors in Turkey. The puzzle of the top-down approach is the indefinite impact of the changing opportunity structure on accession states. In the case of civil society, despite the accession process potentially leading to the empowerment of non-state actors, outcomes might be ambiguous and unexpected for various reasons. In the process of Europeanization of Turkey, divergent modes of mobilizations of NGOs and economic interest groups are explained through the extent of their resource capacities and the way they ideationally frame Europeanization process. The results obtained indicate, the changing opportunity structure empowers non-state actors in greater extent if they show support for Europeanization of Turkey, signify EU's acquis mechanisms and invest in their organizational capacities. Moreover, this thesis reveals the structural conditions that lead to ambiguous impact of the EU on civil society environment. The material and political opportunities that the EU might offer and involvement of non-state actors is not reflexive since political system in Turkey are marked by underdevelopment of civil society and un-regulated state- society relations. The empirical data is drawn from analysis of organizational documents, reports and semi-structured interviews conducted with the key representatives from the NGOs, public officials and experts from the field.
This thesis discusses the changing roles non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and economic interest groups in governing Europeanization process of Turkey, as the accession country is under investigation here. The analysis of civil society involvement in this process provides opportunity to test the extent and limits of EU impact on civil society environment in accession states. The EU impact is in direct or indirect forms and leads to changes in the political opportunity structure by (a) dictating participatory mechanisms through acquis related mechanisms (b) building capacities of civil society by funding mechanisms (c) allowing transnational exchanges (d) injecting new ideas to the policy and politics realms. The EU's intervention in the domestic political setting acts to facilitate the socialization of non-state actors of accession states with the norms, rules ideas promoted by the EU and capacity based initiatives. In this way, civil society can develop new roles and/or internalize new identities. This research intends to determine the conditions under which the EU can socialize agents in the accession process. This study subscribes to the Europeanization research, but also maintains major reservations concerning top-down research designs developed to understand the domestic impact of the EU. This thesis aims to engage in theoretical puzzle on the limits of the EU impact or its differential consequences. The independent variable is the empowerment mechanism that the accession process brings to non-state actors in Turkey. The puzzle of the top-down approach is the indefinite impact of the changing opportunity structure on accession states. In the case of civil society, despite the accession process potentially leading to the empowerment of non-state actors, outcomes might be ambiguous and unexpected for various reasons. In the process of Europeanization of Turkey, divergent modes of mobilizations of NGOs and economic interest groups are explained through the extent of their resource capacities and the way they ideationally frame Europeanization process. The results obtained indicate, the changing opportunity structure empowers non-state actors in greater extent if they show support for Europeanization of Turkey, signify EU's acquis mechanisms and invest in their organizational capacities. Moreover, this thesis reveals the structural conditions that lead to ambiguous impact of the EU on civil society environment. The material and political opportunities that the EU might offer and involvement of non-state actors is not reflexive since political system in Turkey are marked by underdevelopment of civil society and un-regulated state- society relations. The empirical data is drawn from analysis of organizational documents, reports and semi-structured interviews conducted with the key representatives from the NGOs, public officials and experts from the field.
