Turkey’s Experince With Planning in the 1960s

This thesis tries to shed light on the broad relationship between state and economic change in Turkey by studying the institutional history of the State Planning Organization in the 1960s. The recent literature on the political economy of late industrialization is evaluated critically in order to explore the aforementioned relationship. A central theme of this literature is the significance of the presence of a key institution within the state apparatus combining centralization of economic decision-making process with the power to discipline private business activity for long-term industrial development. The foundation of the State Planning Organization by young-reformist officers after the military coup in 1960 represents an attempt for such an organizational design which was envisaged to be instrumental in the formation of a developmental coalition that would have sustained economic development. However, the course of the events in the 1960s, especially the resignation of early planners in 1962 and the formation of a special Incentive and Implementation Department inside the planning agency in 1967, would prove that the relationship between the State Planning Organization and private capital was determined by the requirements of short-term private capital accumulation. In this regard, it is argued that, the developmental state theories fail to come to terms with the Turkish experience since they put too much stress on the formation of state apparatus while neglecting the significance of social formation.

1960’larda Türkiye’de Kalkinma Deneyimi

Bu tezde Devlet Planlama Teskilati’nin 1960’li yillardaki kurumsal tarihinden hareketle, devletle iktisadi kalkinma arasindaki iliskiye isik tutulmaya çalisildi. Bu amaçla geç kalkinmanin ekonomi politigine iliskin literatürün elestirel bir degerlendirmesi sunuldu. Bu literatürün önemli temalarindan birisi devlet içinde karar alma süreçlerinin merkezilestirilmesi ile özel sektör faaliyetlerinin disiplin altina alinmasini içeren bir kurumsallasmanin uzun dönemli endüstriyel kalkinmanin önkosulu oldugudur. Devlet Planlama Teskilati’nin 1960 askeri müdahalesinden hemen sonra genç ve reformcu kadrolarca kurulmasi bu tip bir kurumsallasma arayasinin ürünüdür. Ancak 1962’de ilk kusak plancilarin istifasi ve 1967’de Tesvik ve Uygulama Dairesi’nin kurulmasi ile devam eden gelismeler, planlama örgütü ile özel sektör arasindaki iliskilerin kisa dönemli özel sermaye birikiminin ihtiyaçlari geregince biçimlendigini göstermektedir. Özetle bu tezde, kalkinmaci devlet üzerine son dönemdeki literatürün, bir yandan devlet formasyonuna agirlik verirken toplumsal formasyonun önemini gözardi ettigi ölçüde, Türkiye deneyimini açiklamakta basarisiz kaldigi idda edilmektedir.