ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter summarises the findings of the book in regard to the (de)politicisation of civil society organisations through EU civil society funding in Turkey. The author discusses the relations between neo-liberal governmentality and depoliticisation against the background of her findings. She argues that although she finds neo-liberal governmentality problematic because of its tendency to make issues appear apolitical, some civil society organisations and their discourses benefitted from exactly this apolitical appearance. Her analysis showed that neo-liberal governmentality often triggers depoliticisation. At the same time, in situations in which one issue is extremely politicised, such as in the areas of Kurdish and LGBT rights, some depoliticisation helped to make the issue part of ‘normal’ political contestation. Moreover, service provision and empowerment are not always clearly neo-liberal and depoliticising due to their context. The EU’s liberal rationalities supported the monitoring role of organisations, strengthening the politicisation of their issues. The book ends with a discussion of the implications of its findings for EU policies, the politicisation of the EU and its future.
