ABSTRACT
Plagued by pervasive corruption, Turkey responded to the European Union's (EU) demands for good governance, and adopted a massive amount of reforms to fight against corruption. This introductory chapter shows how prominent explanations of Europeanisation research remain insufficient to explain the cross-sectoral variation that is observed in the Turkish case, unless they are coupled with certain domestic factors. Many scholars argue that the fight against corruption-related institutional change in the Turkish public sector is a clear example of a decoupling problem. Explanations emphasising initial misfit and adaptational costs do not solve the puzzle observed in the Turkish case. Borrowing insights from Europeanisation literature and implementation research, the chapter also introduces a theoretical explanation to account for the differential impact of external actors in fighting corruption in the Turkish public sector. After a brief summary of the theoretical model, the chapter outlines the methodological approach of the research and introduces the plan of the book.
