Turkey's integration into the neoliberal global market and its implications for labour : opportunity or catastrophe?

Abstract

In spite of the distributive rhetoric of neoliberal economic globalization, we currently live in an increasingly fragmented world. Many developing countries, such as Turkey, which have implemented neoliberal economic measures in the 1980s and 90s, are confronted today with deep socio-economic disruptions. This thesis study will follow Turkey’s experience with the implementation of neoliberal economic measures from 1980 onwards. Specifically analyzing the outcomes of domestic economic and labour policies, the thesis will posit that in Turkey’s case the neoliberal development paradigm was a serious disappointment in regards to its unfulfilled promise for mass prosperity and sweeping socioeconomic development. Furthermore, it will point out that instead of promoting development, practical applications of neoliberal economic theory have, on the contrary, eroded the living and working conditions of large portions of the Turkish population and first and foremost, those of the working class.