ABSTRACT
In an effort to address some of the current knowledge gaps in the literature on collaborative crisis management, this chapter explores the nature and development of the political-administrative system in Turkey and the role some of its attributes played for collaboration during the response to two earthquakes in southeast Turkey in 2011. In particular, the chapter investigates how state-society relationships, political conflicts, and intergovernmental relations influenced stakeholder collaboration during the earthquake response. In order to capture how the actors perceived collaboration and how they organized their collaborative activities, interviews were conducted with state officials from varying administrative levels, municipality and NGO representatives as well as village and neighborhood leaders, all of whom were involved in managing the earthquake disasters. By applying a general collaborative governance framework, this chapter attempts to shed light on the perceptions of collaboration in Turkey’s political-administrative system and the role it plays for collaboration. Two components of this framework are in particular focus: the drivers (i.e. uncertainty, interdependence, initiating leadership, and consequential incentives) and the “system context” (socio-economic and cultural characteristics) as well as the interplay between them. This chapter illustrates that there are evident differences across political-administrative systems regarding the conditions for collaboration, who is engaged in such activities, and what collaborations can realistically achieve. The chapter highlights that there needs to be a greater recognition of how these conditions for collaboration, and collaboration itself, may differ in various settings. Also, research should pay close attention to meanings and values that actors in these varying political-administrative systems ascribe to collaboration, as these too affect the outcomes of such activities.
