Clientelism in Public Employment in Turkey

Year 2025, Issue: 71, 38 - 56, 27.06.2025

Mesut Özel , Serap Suğur

https://doi.org/10.26650/JECS2024-1444579

Abstract

This study aims to examine political clientelism, which can be defined as the distribution of public resources to the advocates through political powers, with its recent dimension in Turkey. In Turkey, a new dimension of clientelism has started to be mentioned with the conservative politics that has been effective especially as of the 2000s. This research focuses on the clientelistic relations experienced in recent appointments to positions such as district governors, judges, prosecutors, and auditors, which are also defined as the white collars of the public in Turkey. Research data were collected in 2019 with Ankara and Adiyaman face-to-face and telephone calls from various provinces of Turkey. Data were collected from 29 candidates (2 focus group interviews and 19 in-depth interviews) who were candidates for the aforementioned positions and were previously candidates. The research is based on the data obtained from the subjective experiences of the candidates who applied to the mentioned positions from various provinces of Turkey in 2019 and before. According to the findings, widespread relationships of clientelism have been identified in the appointment processes to the mentioned positions. Internal regulations of public institutions such as security investigation, interviews, and reference are used as effective tools in such relations.

Keywords

Public employment in Turkey, clientelism, favoritism, merit, trust

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