ÖZETBu çalışmadaki amaç; küreselleşme sürecinin kavranılarak, bu kavramın ve sürecin ulus devlet üzerindeki mevcut etkilerinin ve değişimlerinin incelenmesidir.Bu amaçtan hareketle, ilk olarak küreselleşme kavramı ve bu kavramın gelişimi, boyutları, unsurları ve aktörleri üzerinde durulmuş, küreselleşme ve ulus devlet ilişkisi açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır.Çalışmanın ikinci bölümünde, küreselleşme sürecinden ulus devletin nasıl etkilendiği ve bu süreçte ulus devletin siyasal ve ekonomik anlamda işlevlerinde yaşanan daralmaya yer verilmiştir. Küreselleşme sürecinin etkin aktörleri olan; uluslararası sermaye ve uluslararası kurumların ulus devletin işlevlerinin değişiminde oynadıkları roller üzerinde durulmuştur. Ulus devletin, ulus üstü ve ulus altı birimlere yetki devri ve ulus devletin egemenliğinin aşınması sonucu, bağımsız para, maliye, dış ticaret, istihdam politikası uygulama imkanlarının kısıtlanması incelenmiştir.Çalışmanın son aşamasında ise, küreselleşme sürecinin Türkiye üzerindeki etkilerine değinilmiş, bir ulus devlet olan Türkiye'nin de yeri geldiğinde egemenlik gücünü de sarsacak şekilde bu süreçten etkilendiğine vurgu yapılmıştır. Türkiye'nin de küresel düzenden zarar görmemesi ve bu şekillenen mevcut koşullar altında fırsatları iyi değerlendirebilmesi için Türkiye'nin nasıl bir yol izlemesi gerektiği ele alınmıştır.ABSTRACTThis Phd thesis aims to present a thorough understanding of the process of globalisation and analyse the current effects and changes of globalisation on nation state.In accordance with this viewpoint, the concept and the development of globalisation, its dimensions, various aspects and actors are addressed, and the relations between globalisation and nation state are demonstrated.The second part of the study explains how nation state is affected by the process of globalisation, and how the functions of nation state shrink in political and economic sense. This part also reveals the roles of international capital and institutions (as the primary actors of the process of globalisation ) on the changing functions of nation state.In this part, light is shed on how nation state delegates authority to supra-national and subnational units, and how independent monetary, fiscal, foreign trade and employment policies face challenges in application due to the weakening of the sovereignty of nation state.The last part handles the effect of the process of globalisation on Turkey, and present the fact that Turkey, as a nation state, is influenced by this process in a way that it even threatens Turkey's power of sovereignty. The last part also shows how Turkey should follow a path in order to avoid any harm caused by the global order and make use of any apportunity appearing under present circumstances.
1. Introduction Important political, administrative and economic changes occurred in Turkey and the world in the last 50 years, especially during post-1980 neo-liberal era. Decentralization, rapid urbanization and metropolization processes that emerged by means of these changes have boosted authority, spending and responsibility of local governments. Local governments gradually came to the fore in the process of service delivery. However, especially, allocation of self-income and resources to local governments have not shown a similar level of increase. In this study, this dilemma is analyzed in cases of municipalities in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to reveal the contradiction between the increased burden of duty and income of the municipalities. By this way, it is aimed to provide a scientific basis for policy makers in solving self-income problems. In this context, the situation of the municipalities in Turkey has been analyzed. The case is studied with both theoretical and numerical data and the problem has been clearly demonstrated. 2. Trends of Fiscal Autonomy, Fiscal Decentralization and Decentralization Although a single, universal and unique definition cannot be made, decentralization is generally defined as the transfer/assignment of decision-making responsibility, power and authority of resource creation from higher level administration (central government) to lower levels of administration (regions, local governments and NGOs) (Cheema & Rondinelli, 2007: 1, Leung, 2004: 1, Edquist, 2005: 9, Yuliani, 2004, Hinsz vd., 2006: 2, Eryılmaz, 2002: 225). According to the definition of Litvack ve Seddom (1999: 2) and World Bank, decentralization is the transfer of authority and responsibility for public functions from the central government to subordinate or quasi-independent government organizations or the private sector (Keskin, 2008: 2). Fiscal decentralization forms the financial aspect of devolution to regional and local administrations. Moreover, European and American writers use terms like "centrallocal (or intergovernmental) financial relations" and "fiscal federalism" in order to refer to fiscal decentralization. The first phase of fiscal decentralization is the division of spending responsibilities and revenue sources between levels of government (national, regional, local etc.). The second phase is the amount of discretion given to regional and local governments to determine their expenditures and revenues (both in aggregate and detail). This discretion gives regional and local governments the ability to determine their budgets by levying taxes and fees and allocating resources (Davey, 2003: 1). The essence of fiscal decentralization is the authority and responsibility of subnational governments to finance their local services to a certain extent (Ebel & Yılmaz, 2002: 34). In other words, fiscal decentralization occurs when higher levels of government cede influence over budgets and financial decisions to lower levels (Sharma, 2008). Decentralization and fiscal decentralization trend that has developed in the framework of thinking that local governments should be strengthened has also created the infrastructure of financial autonomy. Fiscal Autonomy aims to enable local governments to have adequate, healthy and sustainable resources in order to ensure the institutionalization of democracy and effective implementation of their services. In that framework, it is defined as local governments' fulfillment of their duties and responsibilities independently from the center. To achieve this aim, local governments manage/spend assets and resources in line with their laws (in accordance with the interests of the local population). They also make budgets and borrowings (Ulusoy & Akdemir, 2009: 260-265, Yontar & Dağ, 2014: 150, Çelik, 2013: 22). 3. Increased Responsibility of Municipalities as a Result of Urbanization and Metropolization in Turkey The urbanization rate was very slow in the early years of the Republic of Turkey. The population living in rural areas began to migrate to urban areas in the 1950s due to improvements in transportation infrastructure, change of the land ownership regime, mechanization and modernization of agriculture, technological developments, increase in industrialization, and other economic/social changes. In particular, migration to cities increased in line with the population growth. This accelerated the need for better highway networks and settlement areas, and new housing (Tosun, 2015: 202- 203, Şahin, 2013: 79). There have been serious population increases in cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Ankara and Bursa. This trend caused significant problems in terms of urban services in these cities (Keleş, 2009: 289). Local governments and especially municipalities took on the most important tasks of on-site analysis of the mentioned problems and solving them with practical - permanent proposals. 4. Comparative Analysis of Revenues and Expenditures of Municipalities in Turkey Municipalities became center-dependent units from financial, political and administrative aspects. It is mainly due to inefficient income structure that is dependent on central transfers, not on self-income. It is clear that this situation causes many negative effects on the functioning of municipalities. However, inadequacy of self-income or dependency needs to be demonstrated with numerical data in order to see the adverse trend in a concrete way. This enables a comparison in an international scale and identification of appropriate sample countries for the planned changes for these comparisons. Furthermore, it becomes possible to analyze financial interdependence among different municipal levels and all municipalities. Through detailed assessments, the dilemma between metropolization and fiscal decentralization in Turkey has been put forward in this study. 5. Basic Financial Problems of Municipalities in Turkey The main financial problems of the municipalities can be listed as lack of sustainable revenue sources, ineffective use of available resources, over-dependence on shares transferred from general budget tax revenues collection, inadequacy of self-income sources (Yüksel, 2004). Because of these financial problems, there are many negative situations faced at the local level. 6. Conclusion There is a trend of urbanization and metropolization in Turkey. 93% of the total population lives within the municipal boundaries. 84% of the population within municipal boundaries is within the borders of the metropolitan municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities have the highest burden of responsibilities. Then comes the provincial municipalities, district and town municipalities. However, amount of incomes is in the opposite order. This situation, prevents municipalities from enjoying the benefits of fiscal autonomy and fiscal decentralization. Instead, they become highly dependent on the central government. To get rid of this dilemma, a three-stage policy must be followed. Firstly, efficiency in spending should be achieved. Secondly, steps should be taken to make the most out of available income sources. Finally, municipalities should be provided with new sources of revenue in order to get rid of the fiscal dilemma. While these steps are being taken, rather than applying a general method, political characteristics and administrative, economic, cultural of Turkey should be taken into consideration and Turkey-specific system should be established.
