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‘A gap in the bridge?’: European Union civil society financial assistance in Turkey

Ketola, Markus (2012) ‘A gap in the bridge?’: European Union civil society financial assistance in Turkey. European Journal of Development Research, 24 (1). pp. 89-104. ISSN 0957-8811

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Identification Number: 10.1057/ejdr.2011.32

Abstract

While external programmes developing civil society receive criticism for adhering to a Westernised, neo-Tocquevillean development model, the case of the European Union (EU) and Turkey is different. Turkey's European aspirations legitimise the efforts to ‘democratise’ its civil society, and the EU-propelled political reform programme has helped to expand the variety of voices in Turkish civil society. The impact of external funding on civil society, however, is contingent on the way the aims of this assistance are interpreted in the context of domestic political debates. This article uses examples from the Turkish women's movement to illustrate the complex socio-political debates about religion and secularism that inform NGO behaviour. By implementing an external agenda that draws on the European model of civil society, and which steers away from the government's domestic agenda for civil society, the EU policy has the potential to undermine the successes of the broader political reform process.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ejdr/index.html
Additional Information: © 2012 Palgrave Macmillan
Divisions: Social Policy
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2012 17:22
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 23:18
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/42093

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