|
 |
|
HASAN KANBOLAT
|
h.kanbolat@todayszaman.com
|
Columnists
|
Relations of think tanks to public and private sector and the media in Turkey
|
|
|
There is a new generation of young people in Turkey and in the world who have different perspectives on foreign policy. Turks' exposure to globalization first started with Turkish workers who migrated to Western Europe in the 1960s and continued with Turkish construction workers, engineers and entrepreneurs flowing to the Middle East and North Africa in the n Europe, Russia and the Far East.
|
|
With these exposures, the Turkish people started to become a factor that is affected by, and has influence on, foreign policy. The businessmen's associations that have mushroomed since the 1980s, the nongovernmental organizations of Turkish workers, intellectuals abroad, the media, the international affairs departments at universities and so on have started to play an increasing role in the shaping of Turkish foreign policy. The establishment of Turkish think tanks with specialization on foreign policy in the 21st century served as a catalyst for the emergence of professional organizations with a full-time interest in foreign policy, in addition to the existing Turkish public institutions that deal with Turkish foreign policy -- the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the Foreign Ministry, the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade (DTM) and the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA). Thus, 80 years after the establishment of the republic, Turkish foreign policy has started to be privatized. Due to the fact that foreign policy affairs have been monopolized by public institutions and the concept of think tanks had not been developed in Turkey until the 21st century, the general public and the state tend to identify this concept with intelligence. Since working as a strategist is not regarded as a profession in Turkey as it represents an unknown for the general public, it is generally confused with intelligence. The general public in Turkey has the misconception of seeing think tanks as extensions of Turkish or foreign intelligence organizations, while Turkish public institutions consider them to be potential collaborators with foreign intelligence organizations, thereby perceiving them as potential threats -- us and them. The Turkish private sector does not believe there is any need for think tanks. The Turkish media prefer to use their services for free. Thus, in Turkey, think tanks are perceived, or forced to act, as government-operated nongovernmental organizations (GONGOs), although they are just nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Actually, both the general public and the state do not expect Turkish think tanks to do anything but reassure them that they have no ulterior motives. Instead, the general expectation is that think tanks lend support to the mainstream public opinion. Thus, public institutions suppose that think tanks will produce conclusions that support and confirm the existing public policies. In Turkey, the bureaucrats whose main interest is in foreign policy issues have the power of having a monopoly on knowledge and of being the decision makers, and this prompts them to scorn think tanks and their efforts. They want to use think tanks as subcontractors for what they cannot do within the state. However, ordinarily, a bureaucracy has no time to think, ponder and produce knowledge. Bureaucracy is no place for specialization. It is virtually impossible for bureaucrats who deal with foreign policy, who are overburdened with paperwork, trips and delegation work and who are required to work at different foreign posts to specialize in a specific area. Moreover, the hierarchical structure within which bureaucrats operate does not allow them to produce views that oppose their superiors. Actually, no one has given a thought to how independent think tanks should collaborate with public institutions. It is perhaps for this reason that Turkish public institutions have tended to establish strategy development departments within their own structure instead of cooperating with independent think tanks. The establishment, duties and powers of these strategy development departments are governed by the public financial administration and control law dated Dec. 3, 2003 and numbered 5018. These departments are established within the framework of greater harmonization with EU legislation and with the purpose of identifying weaknesses and strengths of public organizations and preparing an inventory of what they can and cannot do. They conduct strategy management and planning for the relevant ministries. They seek to shape the mission and vision of their relevant institutions and examine adversities in the fulfillment of their duties and identify measures to eliminate them. They also formulate medium and long-term strategic goals and targets and intend to create a sort of self-criticism mechanism. Within this scope, they investigate the weaknesses and strengths of their institutions and try to design policies for eliminating these weaknesses. Furthermore, they seek to create performance indicators for every institution and for every individual piece of work. However, in practice, these strategy development departments have until now done nothing more than represent the new name given to the research, planning and coordination departments, where certain bureaucrats are appointed as a sort of punishment and which is mostly dysfunctional.
|
| 04 August 2009, Tuesday |
| HASAN KANBOLAT |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benzer Haberler 
