Constructing Change A Political Economy Of Housing And Electricity Provision In Turkey

In Constructing Change, Ezgi B. Unsal explores the commodification of social provision as a defining feature of modern world economy, by using the case studies of electricity and housing provision in Turkey.

The Cultural Political Economy of the Construction Industry in Turkey analyses the growth of the popularity of Erdogan’s AKP in Turkey through the lens of the construction sector.

In The Political Economy of Housing: The Case of Turkey, Sila Demirors explores the analytical and historical process of how housing, a special use-value and social relation, which is crucial for the social reproduction of labour-power, becomes an instrument of speculative finance to feed itself. While the second part of the book discusses the political economy of housing in Turkey, in which housing has been used by the state as both a political project and a macroeconomic tool for the last two decades, the first part of the book formulates a methodological and theoretical framework to provide a comprehensive approach for comparative housing research from a Marxist political economy perspective.

Understanding consumption requires looking at the systems by which goods and services are provided – not just how they are produced but the historically evolved structures, power relations and cultures within which they are located. The Systems of Provision approach provides an interdisciplinary framework for unpacking these complex issues. This book provides a comprehensive account of the Systems of Provision approach, setting out core concepts and theoretical origins alongside numerous case studies. The book combines fresh understandings of everyday consumption using examples from food, housing, and water, with implications for society’s major challenges, including inequality, climate change, and prospects for capitalism. Readers do not require prior knowledge across the subject matter covered but the text remains significant for accomplished researchers and policymakers, especially those interested in the messy real world realities underpinning who gets what, how, and why across public and private provision in global, national, and historical contexts.

Turkey has been reforming its energy markets since the 1980s, culminating in two major bills in the early 2000s. The country has restructured electricity and natural gas markets, establishing an independent regulatory agency (EMRA) and passed legislation on renewable and nuclear energy. With these regulatory reforms, Turkey, as a candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU), has aimed to direct the energy markets to a more competitive environment in parallel with EU energy directives. This book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on country’s energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Finally, the book concludes with recommendations for Turkish energy policy. The authors are expert scholars who have written extensively on Turkish regulatory reform and energy economics and who have broad knowledge of global energy market dynamics. The book will be a unique guide for those concerned with the different areas of the Turkish economy and international audiences interested in energy markets of Turkey and surrounding regions, making the book of interest to not only researchers in academia but also industry practitioners, regulators and policy makers as well.

This comprehensive and stimulating Handbook examines the contribution of political economy to public policy. It provides an overview of several strands of critical political economy, supported by case studies from OECD countries, Latin America, South Africa, and South and East Asia.

This book makes a structural analysis of the neoliberal restructuring in the global electricity industry. The book shows that the electricity liberalisation in different countries is just a reflection of the same structural trend in the global economy and avoids from both narrow country-specific and abstract global approaches by making a structural analysis completed by a case study. Thus, it aims reaching wider conclusions about how global changes in finance and ideology / knowledge structures influence domestic energy and economic policy preferences of developing countries. The book develops a taxonomy about organising principles around which the electricity industry has been structured historically and globally, and reveals drivers of change which influences the current energy transition in the electricity sector. Combining these aspects, the book uses financial and other economic data empirically, to shed light on the structural role of global transformation of the electricity markets on the domestic energy policy preferences of the developing countries. Thus, this work will be useful not only for academic purposes, but also for practitioners dealing with these issues.

The Political Economy of Regulation in Turkey brings together leading international scholars and experts on Turkey and regulatory reform to provide essential information on the recent Turkish experience and its relation to competition policy. After the 1980 liberalization reform, Turkey tried to introduce competition in many industries, but network industries have remained as monopolies. At the end of the 1990s, regulatory reform was initiated and independent regulatory agencies have been established by the government. Comprehensive discussions of these network industries, in particular airlines, electricity, natural gas, telecommunications and environment regulations, are offered. The contributors inquire how economic theory and historical analyses can enlighten the character of market processes and the role for government action in these industries, and the contributions shed light on the very recent changes in the regulatory structure and important legal cases that shape the future of regulated industries. This book discusses these issues in an international perspective and relates the Turkish experience to other similar countries, such as in Eastern Europe and Central America. This book serves as a useful guide to those who want to understand major changes in Turkey and regulatory reforms in other emerging markets, making it of interest to researchers and PhD students concerned with regulatory economics, the Turkish economy, and economic policy in emerging markets.