ABSTRACT
Hande Paker Introduction Disasters reveal the fundamental processes of social order and are explained by the political, social, and economic dynamics of everyday life (Kreps, 1984; Bolin and Stanford, 1998). The aftermath of the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Turkey has provided a context in which to study state-civil society relations, both in the immediate aftermath and in the processes that emerged.1 Two processes stand out in the aftermath of the earthquake: failure of the state, and the unprecedented civic mobilization that was celebrated as a high hope for democratization in Turkey.
