Central Bank Communication as a Social Practice in Crisis: AI-Driven Insights into Language, Trust, and Collective Behavior in Türkiye

Yıl 2025, Sayı: Special Issue: Crisis Entangled – Reimagining the Social in Turbulent Times, 162 - 175, 30.10.2025

Hakan Emekçi

Öz

Central banks govern not only through monetary tools but also through words. This article reframes the policy statements of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) as discursive practices that shape authority, legitimacy, and trust. Using artificial intelligence (AI)-driven computational methods—stylometric analysis, sentiment scoring, clustering, and machine learning—the study analyzes CBRT communication between 2002 and 2017. The findings show systematic linguistic shifts during periods of crisis: sentences become longer, uncertainty markers increase, and sentiment turns more cautious or negative. These results reveal how discourse functions as a performative act of narrative governance, stabilizing expectations when economic conditions are volatile. Interpreted through Foucault’s discourse-power framework, Habermas’s theory of communicative legitimacy, and Luhmann’s conception of trust, the study demonstrates that monetary communication is not neutral information but a social mechanism for managing uncertainty. AI serves as an interdisciplinary bridge, making visible hidden dynamics that connect institutional discourse to social perception. The article contributes by (1) reframing central bank communication as a multidimensional social practice, (2) integrating computational methods with critical social theory, and (3) situating Türkiye’s monetary discourse in broader debates on legitimacy and trust in global economic governance

Anahtar Kelimeler

Central Bank Communication , Stylometric Analysis , Sentiment Analysis , Artificial Intelligence , Narrative Governance , Crisis and Uncertainty

Toplumsal Bir Pratik Olarak Merkez Bankası İletişimi: Türkiye’de Dil, Güven ve Kolektif Davranışa Dair Yapay Zeka Tabanlı Hesaplamalı Bulgular

Öz

Merkez bankaları yalnızca para politikası araçlarıyla değil, aynı zamanda kelimeler aracılığıyla da yönetirler. Bu makale, Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankası’nın (TCMB) politika açıklamalarını, otorite, meşruiyet ve güveni şekillendiren söylemsel pratikler olarak yeniden ele almaktadır. Çalışmada 2002–2017 dönemi TCMB iletişimi, yapay zeka (YZ) tabanlı yöntemlerle—stilometri, duygu analizi, kümelenme ve makine öğrenmesi—incelenmiştir. Bulgular, kriz dönemlerinde dilin sistematik olarak değiştiğini göstermektedir: cümleler uzamakta, belirsizlik işaretleyicileri artmakta ve söylem daha temkinli ya da olumsuz hale gelmektedir. Bu sonuçlar, söylemin bir anlatı yönetimi (narrative governance) aracı olarak işlev gördüğünü, özellikle ekonomik koşulların dalgalı olduğu dönemlerde beklentileri istikrara kavuşturduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bulgular, Foucault’nun söylem-iktidar yaklaşımı, Habermas’ın iletişimsel meşruiyet teorisi ve Luhmann’ın güven kavramsallaştırması üzerinden yorumlanmıştır. Çalışma, para politikası iletişiminin tarafsız bilgi aktarımdan ibaret olmadığını; belirsizlik yönetiminin sosyal bir mekanizması olduğunu göstermektedir. YZ, kurum söylemini toplumsal algıyla ilişkilendiren gizli dinamikleri görünür kılarak disiplinlerarası bir köprü işlevi görmektedir. Makale şu katkıları sunmaktadır: (1) merkez bankası iletişimini çok boyutlu bir toplumsal pratik olarak yeniden çerçevelemek, (2) hesaplamalı yöntemleri eleştirel sosyal teoriyle bütünleştirmek, (3) Türkiye’nin para politikası söylemini meşruiyet ve güven tartışmaları bağlamında küresel ekonomik yönetişim literatürüne yerleştirmek.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Merkez Bankası İletişimi , Stilometrik Analiz , Duygu Analizi , Yapay Zeka , Anlatı Yönetimi , Kriz ve Belirsizlik

Kaynakça

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