TY - JOUR T1 - Public Budgets as Expressions of Political Culture and Collective Imagination TT - Politik Kültür ve Kolektif Tahayyülün Dışavurumu Olarak Kamu Bütçeleri AU - Cömert, Metehan PY - 2025 DA - September Y2 - 2025 DO - 10.52836/sayistay.1725431 JF - Sayıştay Dergisi JO - TCA Journal PB - T.C. Sayıştay Başkanlığı WT - DergiPark SN - 1300-1981 SP - 493 EP - 516 VL - 36 IS - 138 LA - en AB - This article begins with a suspicion: the presumed neutrality of public budgetsis a well-founded illusion. What is the definition of public budgeting, and what is atstake when we reduce it to a technical or administrative routine? This study makesa theoretical intervention into the dominant technocratic approaches by imaginingpublic budgets as culturally embedded and politically contested practices. Drawing onAaron Wildavsky’s writings, I argue that the post-political vision of budgeting –whichframes fiscal decisions as apolitical matters of expertise– obscures the ideologicalunderpinnings of public budgets. Against this ‘rational’ logic, I propose a politicizedunderstanding of public budgeting that calls for a radical break from conventional,depoliticized perspectives. The conclusion outlines emancipatory possibilities thatcould transform budgets from tools of control into instruments of collective selfdetermination and democratic reimagination. KW - budget KW - public budget KW - politics KW - culture KW - political culture. N2 - Bu makalede, kamu bütçelerine atfedilen ‘tarafsızlık’ iddiasının aslında özenleinşa edilmiş bir yanılsama olduğu yönünde bir şüpheden hareket edilmektedir. “Kamubütçesi nedir?” sorusu ile birlikte, bütçelerin salt teknik ya da idari bir rutin olaraktanımlanmasının bu süreçlerin ideolojik, kültürel ve siyasal boyutlarını nasıl görünmezkıldığı sorgulanmaktadır. Çalışmada, egemen teknokratik yaklaşımlara kuramsalmüdahalelerde bulunularak, bütçeleme süreçlerinin kültürel olarak şekillendiği vesiyasal mücadelelerle iç içe geçtiği savunulmaktadır. Bu çerçevede, Aaron Wildavsky’ninmetinlerinden hareketle, bütçe kararlarını apolitik birer uzmanlık meselesi olarak sunanpost-politik tahayyülün, kamu bütçelerinin ideolojik boyutlarını görünmez kıldığı önesürülmektedir. Tarafsızlık iddiasıyla meşrulaştırılan bu ‘rasyonel’ bütçeleme anlayışınakarşı, çalışmada bütçeyi siyasallaştıran bir perspektif önerilmekte ve yerleşik teknokratiksöylemlere karşı teorik düzlemde itirazlar geliştirilmektedir. Sonuç bölümünde ise,bütçelerin birer toplumsal kontrol aracından kolektif katılım ve demokratik tahayyülimkânlarını barındıran özgürleştirici araçlara dönüştürülebileceği yönündeki olasılıklarana hatlarıyla ortaya konmaktadır.. CR - Allen, R., Hemming R. and Potter B. H. (2013). The International Handbook of Public Financial Management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. CR - Appadurai, A. (2017). Democracy Fatigue. The Great Regression. (Ed.) Geiselberger, H. Cambridge: Polity Press. CR - Burnham, P. (2000). Globalization, Depoliticization and ‘Modern’ Economic Management. Politics of Change: Globalization, Ideology, and Critique. (Eds.) Bonefeld, W. and Psychopedis, K. Palgrave: New York. CR - Butler, E. (2012). Public Choice: A Primer. 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