The Controversies over the Term “Empowerment” in the Implementation of Sustainable Development and the Case of Turkey

Yıl 2022, Cilt: 14 Sayı: 3, 547 - 581, 09.10.2022

Selcan Serdaroğlu Polatay Eylem Özkaya Lassalle

https://doi.org/10.53376/ap.2022.19

Öz

Sustainable development, being at the centre of today’s global and local policies, has led to discussions about its broad content and applicability since the 1980s. In particular, the most emphasized issues have been prioritizing the economic dimension of sustainable development and understanding the environment as the optimal use of natural capital. However, as was underlined at the World Sustainable Development Summit held in 2002, a social dimension also needs to be taken into account. This study adopts a qualitative approach to explore definitions and dimensions of sustainable development and empowerment to understand how their enlarged content affects their application. The dynamic range of empowerment presented as a critical strategy for implementing the social dimension of sustainable development, the ambiguities related to the meaning of the concepts, and the discourses transmitted from the global to the local level are being investigated through the Turkish case. To explore different definitions of sustainable development and empowerment, the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti was used. The research sample consists of ten documents on international cooperation initiatives and three Turkish documents on implementing these initiatives. The international and Turkish texts show the fluctuations of empowerment between raising human welfare and increasing production. Thus, the concept of empowerment seems to reflect the contradictions of sustainable development semantically and by the nature of the discourse used.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Sustainable Development, Social Dimension, Empowerment, Content Analysis, Global Environmental Management, Populist Discourse

Destekleyen Kurum

Scientific Research Projects Commission of Galatasaray University

Proje Numarası

19.101.001

Teşekkür

This work has been supported by the Scientific Research Projects Commission of Galatasaray University under grant number 19.101.001.

Sürdürülebilir Kalkınmanın Uygulanmasında “Güçlendirme” Kavramı Üzerine Tartışmalar ve Türkiye Örneği

Öz

Sürdürülebilir kalkınma, günümüz küresel ve yerel politikalarının merkezinde yer almakla birlikte gündeme geldiği 1980'li yıllardan beri geniş içeriği ve uygulanabilirliği hakkında tartışmalara yol açmaktadır. Özellikle sürdürülebilir kalkınmanın ekonomik boyutuna öncelik verilmesi, çevresel olanın çoğunlukla doğal sermayenin optimal kullanımı olarak anlaşılması üzerinde en çok durulan konular olmuştur. Oysa 2002’de düzenlenen Dünya Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Zirvesi'nde hatırlandığı üzere gözetilmesi gereken bir de toplumsal boyut vardır. Bu çalışmada, özellikle toplumsal boyutun uygulanması için anahtar bir strateji olarak sunulan “güçlendirme”nin -sürdürülebilir kalkınma kavramı gibi- genişleyen içeriğinin küreselden yerele aktarılırken kazandığı/kaybettiği anlamlar Türkiye örneğinde araştırılmaktadır. Atlas.ti programı kullanarak, sürdürülebilir kalkınmanın içeriğinin genişlemesinin uygulamayı nasıl etkilediğini tartışmak ve farklı güçlendirme tanımlarını keşfetmek için nitel bir içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemi, uluslararası işbirliği girişimlerine ilişkin on ve bu girişimlerin Türkiye bağlamında uygulanmasına ilişkin üç belgeden oluşmaktadır. Türkiye’de güçlendirmenin nasıl algılandığı uluslararası ve ulusal belgelerde karşılaştırmalar yapılarak çözümlenmekte ve bunun uygulamayı nasıl etkileyebileceği incelenmektedir. Bulgular, güçlendirme konusunda uluslararası düzeyde ve Türkiye’nin uygulama anlayışında insan refahını yükseltme ile üretimi artırma arasında gelgitler olduğunu göstermektedir. Böylelikle güçlendirme kavramının sürdürülebilir kalkınma kavramının çelişkilerini hem anlamsal olarak hem de kullanılan söylemin doğası bakımından yansıttığı söylenebilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma, Sosyal Boyut, Güçlendirme, İçerik Analizi, Küresel Çevre Yönetimi, Popülist Söylem

Proje Numarası

19.101.001

Kaynakça

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