Neo-Liberal Transformation of Turkish Agriculture

Author: AYDIN, ZÜLKÜF

Source: Journal of Agrarian Change, Volume 10, Number 2, April 2010 , pp. 149-187(39)

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Abstract:

This paper analyses the relationship between the internationalization of agriculture under the hegemony of transnational corporations and the transformation of Turkish agriculture by specifically looking at the implementation of neo-liberal policies in rural areas. It contends that neo-liberalism in Turkish agriculture since the 1980s represents the abandonment of the nationalist project that underlined state policies in industry and agriculture between 1930 and the late 1970s. Neo-liberal policies implemented since 1980 have consolidated the stronghold of transnational agribusiness companies in Turkish agriculture. In cooperation with the World Bank, the EU and the WTO, the Turkish state has been preparing the necessary conditions for transnational agribusiness firms to control Turkish agriculture. Since 1999, the Turkish state has introduced fundamental institutional changes to ensure the smooth internationalization of Turkish agriculture, which has inevitably led to the impoverishment of the rural masses and to the abandonment of agriculture by small- and medium-sized households.

Keywords: internationalization of agriculture; neo-liberalism; Turkish agriculture

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0366.2009.00241.x

Publication date: 2010-04-01