Research Information System
3. Selçuk Uluslararası Bilimsel Araştırmalar Kongresi, Konya, Turkey, 17 February 2024, pp.257, (Summary Text)
Although nation-states
remain to be the key political actors, the scale of governing is increasingly
varied under globalization. International, regional, and local actors are
involved in ruling in many areas and share the responsibility with national
governments. Multilevel governance affects decision-making and policy
implementation processes, and the outcomes of these policies; in line with the
interaction among various actors holding power at different scales. Rural
development is among the areas, where the changes are shaped by dynamics of
governance.
The global
tendencies influence how rural development planning is designed at the national
scale. The nation-states transfer some authority in terms of the implementation
of rural development policies to local institutions, while at the same time
providing their coordination throughout the country. This paper focuses on
Türkiye and analyses how multilevel governance is at play in the field of rural
development. With seven geographical regions, each having peculiar
environmental resources, crop variety, socioeconomic and cultural
characteristics, Türkiye has needed responsiveness to local conditions for
achieving more effective results in rural development. On the other hand,
integration of region-specific practices at the national level is required for
keeping rural development planning consistent with national economic growth
strategy. In this sense, governance approach fits into the requirements of economic
management at the rural contexts.
Through a
qualitative analysis of the official documents published by rural development
actors at various levels, including national development plans, reports of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, regional reports provided by Development
Agencies, and EU-funded rural development programmes (IPARD); this paper
suggests that rural development in Türkiye exemplifies the multi-scaling of
economic management, which is a result of globalization. The study further
argues that the individual, in addition to institutions, emerges as a powerful
actor, as rural people themselves also shape the rural development process
through entrepreneurial activities.