The Legacy of Ataturk: Turkish Political Structures and Policy-making
Author(s)
Cooper, Malcolm
Abstract
This article examines the role of Turkey in economic policy-making and international relations; its foreign policy can be defined in terms of a political metaphor for the Cold War past and current east/west divide, and its status as an emerging market which has not broken the high growth/high inflation spiral is considered unique. The author attempts to explain these anomalies in terms of Turkish political structures, which are considered weak and enable policy-makers to affect reform; political parties are also seen as lacking legitimacy, policy coherence or public support, and these weakness are traced back to the creation of modern Turkey in the first half of the 20th century.
