LIST OF PANELS

In Turkey, the state keeps its power to influence the economy by means of interactions that it builds with the business environment. It keeps its ruling capacity on the economy either by authoritarian means or relying on civil society. The state also uses its redistribution potential in order to influence the behavior of the lower classes for obtaining electoral support. This panel aims to analyze the multiple faces of neoliberal policies in Turkey from the post-military coup period to our days, under the AKP government. It will ask how different actors react in different sectors of society and take sides in the context of neoliberal and authoritarian policies. As to the methodology, it aims to understand different aspects of social, cultural and economic policies by specific field studies realized in different cities and policy areas in Turkey. The presenters are encouraged to analyze the impacts of neoliberal policies not only from the institutional and official macro-level but also from the individual and micro-level. By combining “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches, the presenters are invited to provide empirical data that clarify how neoliberal and authoritarian policies in Turkey are experienced in different regions, fields and sectors. This panel focusing on the case of Turkey will thus question a number of central concepts in theoretical and methodological debates on precarity, vulnerability, state repression and social and spatial expression of economic inequality. the treatment of these issues could be divided into three main themes: - An axis focused on the institutional dimension of the neoliberal policies focusing on state and civil servants.   - A second axis based on the economic dimension that offer the study of labour policies and the relation between capital, the businessmen and the state. - A third axis analyzing the cultural and social dimension of public policies in a neoliberal context.

The neoliberal cliché "more market, less government" that had never been achieved in practice, is replaced by more “realistic and pragmatic” notions. In Turkey, the state keeps its power to influence the economy by means of interactions that it builds with the business environment. It keeps its ruling capacity on the economy either by authoritarian means or relying on civil society. The state also uses its redistribution potential in order to influence the behavior of the lower classes for obtaining electoral support.   The proposed panel aims to allow a debate on the effects neoliberal policies and globalization on the modes of implementation of public policies in different sectors and the emergence of the social question. This panel will aim to analyze the multiple faces of neoliberal policies in Turkey from the post-military coup period to our days, under the AKP government. It will ask how different actors react in different sectors of society and take sides in the context of neoliberal and authoritarian policies. Thus, the panel will examine the personal and local strategies and the construction of the agendas and discourses in different sectors. It will also discuss the relations and networks that take part in the decision making processes and the production of political strategies and electoral politics. By chairs and discussants specialized in different fields, it offers an interdisciplinary discussion mainly in political science, sociology, law, economy and history. As to the methodology, it aims to understand different aspects of social, cultural and economic policies by different field studies realized in different cities and policy areas in Turkey. We aim to analyze the impacts of neoliberal policies not only from the institutional and official macro-level but also from the individual and micro-level. Therefore, we will underline the importance of the combination of “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches. The analysis of local strategies, multi-level governing forms, biographies, trajectories and careers of those who take part in policy making processes will help us understand the individual level of public policies while the analysis of solidarity structures and informal networks will explain relations at the local level. Thus, this panel will prioritize the presentations and the discussions that aim to clarify how neoliberal and authoritarian policies in Turkey are experienced in different regions and sectors. They will help us understand the impact of neoliberalism on the strategies of the actors in the respective fields. A number of cross-cutting issues could thus be addressed both from the point of view of the analysis of public policies around neoliberal policies and the social question in the case of Turkey and from a sociological point of view focused on the actors in different sectors and regions. The case of Turkey would also question a number of central concepts in different theoretical and methodological debates on precarity, vulnerability, state repression and social and spatial expression of economic inequality.We will thus be able to observe the influence of the evolution of the political actors and the policy making processes.