The Economic Transformation of Turkey: Neoliberalism and State Intervention.

• Author: Dvorak, Jaroslav
• Position: Book review

By Nilgun Onder

I.B. Tauris: London and New York, 2016, 400 pages, $77.73, ISBN: 9781780768830.

Reviewed by Jaroslav Dvorak, Klaipeda University

The Economic Transformation of Turkey: Neoliberalism and State Intervention by Nilgun Onder analyses the development of labor relations in Turkey from 1980-1991. Apparently, the book is assigned a new meaning, considering the events of July 15, 2016. Nevertheless, history teaches us, and the author's book confirms this once again. The book is comprised of an introduction and four chapters, which are further subdivided. In the introduction, the author discusses the motivation of the research and the theoretical structure succinctly and in a structured way. The methodological basis of Onder's research is based on Marxist theories of state, integrating the corporatism perspective. According to the author, authoritarian corporatism and neo-corporatism were manifested in Turkey during various periods of constructing the doctrine of neoliberalism.

The book starts by discussing the doctrine of neoliberalism. The author considers the intervention of neoliberal characteristics in the Turkish economic model logically and consistently. She claims that the military regime, which took power in 1980, was based on 'substantial capital and the elimination of the working class from political life' (p. 24). At the same time, the creation of new rules, norms, and institutions was taking place: centralization, privatization, changes in state institutions, the liberalization of international trade; and the discourse of state functions was also changing, decreasing expenses for social needs, etc. It should be noted that Onder maintains a position engaged in advance. Obviously, changes are not necessarily an evil; they also represent modernization in the direction of westernization.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Furthermore, the author provides an explanatory scheme of labor relations in Turkey during the period in question, carrying out a thorough, consistent, historical, and statistical analysis of the main indexes, events, and changes. A descriptive method dominates. The author stresses that neoliberalism is manifested not only in the private sector, but also in the public one, where increasingly more services are contracting out. In the author's words, this is "a real threat to the movement of professional unions" (p. 87). It becomes obvious that a military regime does not tolerate competition and can effectively eliminate...