Europeanisation, Good Governance and Corruption in the Public Sector ― The Case of Turkey

When and to what extent external actors, especially the EU, contribute to induce legal and administrative changes and help domestic authorities address the disconnect between good governance standards and corrupt practices? Comparing external promotion of anti-corruption norms and provisions in civil administration, public finance management and public procurement in Turkey this book identifies the domestic conditions under which external actors are able to affect real-world outcomes. Providing a comprehensive, empirical account of Turkey’s fight against corruption, the book’s cross-sectoral analysis explores the power relations between major political actors and bureaucratic state elites and examines how structural administrative factors filter external pressure for anti-corruption reforms and determine the prospects for institutional change in the Turkish public sector. This welcome addition to literature on Europeanisation and external good governance promotion makes an important contribution to the academic and policy debate regarding the ‘politics’ of anti-corruption reforms in Turkey.

Digdem Soyaltin is an assistant professor of Political Science at Istanbul Kemerburgaz University. Previously she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Stockholm University Institute of Turkish Studies (SUITS) and a consultant in projects conducted by Transparency International, Council of Europe and European Union on good governance and anti-corruption policies and judicial sector reforms in Turkey. She received her Ph.D from the Department of Political Science at Freie Universitat Berlin and worked as a research fellow at the Research College on Transformative Power of Europe (KFG) during her Ph.D. studies. She holds a Master of Science (MSc.) in European Affairs from Lund University and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Political Science from Central European University in Budapest. She studied International Relations and European Politics for her Bachelor degree (BA) in Turkey. Her main research interests are Europeanisation and domestic change, public policy and governance, Turkish politics and more specific policies of fight against corruption.