ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the implications for credible policy commitments of the role of state in Turkey’s economic development. It examines the extent to which the establishment of the customs union in 1996 can ameliorate the anchor/credibility dilemma in European Union-Turkey relations. The chapter argues that Turkey’s European orientation cannot be a credible policy commitment because of the way in which the Turkish state interacts with societal groups in the process of policy-making. State-society interaction in Turkey unfolds in the context of a polity that reflects the characteristics of what Etzioni describes as control-reliant and consensual modes of governance. Given the Turkish state’s heavy involvement in the economy, the legitimacy of the political regime has become dependent not on the extent to which it is democratic but on the extent to which it is able to satisfy extemalisation demands. The vicious circle of state discretion, demands for extemalisation, and further discretion has worsened as the Turkish economy has continued to grow.
