Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Küresel Güç Dengesi: Özel Vakalar Olarak Avrupa Birliği ve Türkiye, Kocaeli, Türkiye, 10 - 11 Mayıs 2023, ss.120-121
Multistakeholderism in development diplomacy of Türkiye and EU
Feyza Kavi Şimşek
Kocaeli Üniversitesi
Abstract
Development diplomacy which may be defined as reshaping of development aid policy in order to serve public diplomacy ends as well is a sphere that foreign and economy ministries are traditionally dominant. Nonetheless non-state actors gained visibility in policy making processes in recent decades along with state agencies and inter-governmental organizations such as World Bank and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Inclusion of civil actors to aid policy debates paved the way for the expansion of diplomacy’s definition.
Development diplomacy as a new term is a product of recent evolution of diplomacy. A new diplomatic culture which is characterized by multistakeholderism is emerging alongside traditional diplomacy that depends on state officers’ primacy in diplomacy. Erosion of the nation-state’s authority due to effects of globalization steered govenments into cooperation with civil actors in many areas which gave rise to democratization of policy making to some extent. Nowadays diplomacy is carried out in a network environment which encapsulates both state diplomats and members of civil society. Actors in this network benefit from each others strenghts: government diplomats utilize non-state actor’s field experience and expertise; and non-state actors take advantage of government diplomats’ authority and legitimacy. As seen none of them is sole arbiter in the system. In brief multistakeholder diplomacy prescribes official and non-state actors to act in coordination in a network dealing with region wide and global issues.
Considering European Union’s (EU) development policy which was initiated in the late 1950’s is one of the most long-standing policies of the Union. Broadly speaking EU’s development policy was shaped by its member states’ interests of pursuing their special relationships with former colonies throughout the Cold War years. Participation of non-state actors were wellcomed since 1970’s. However as a result of a huge increase in European aid and expansion eastwards, development policy undergone a reform process between 1998-2001. Moreover promotion of EU’s values such as supremacy of law, democracy, good governance and human rights gained prominence in development policy making in post-Cold War era. Southern civil society actors gained ground against European civil society actors due to promotion of local ownership in receiving countries. Europen Union Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) is entitled to designate European international cooperation and development policy. Spending 19 billion dollars in 2021 as official development assistance (ODA), EU is one of the largest donors worldwide. It is estimated that 20 percent of this aid is given through civil society organisations (CSO).
Although appeared as a middle income country, Türkiye launched an ambitious aid programme in 2000s. Türkiye emerged as a prominent actor of development by increasing her official development assistance almost eighteenfold from 2005 to 2019. Türkiye’s official bodies are Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), Ministry of Foreign Affairs ve Ministry of Trade. Prominent Turkish CSO’s are Turkish Red Crescent and some faith based CSO’s: IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri İnsani Yardım Vakfı (İHH), Doctors Worldwide Turkey (Yeryüzü Doktorları), Cansuyu Association (Cansuyu Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Derneği), Kimse Yok mu? Association, Deniz Feneri Association. These organisations’ resources consists of private cash and in-kind donations. Nonetheless their share in total Turkish aid is relatively small. In 2021 CSOs’ contribution was 361 million USD dollars in total 8,397 billion USD Dollars of Turkish aid.