ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN TURKEY

INTRODUCTION

Forces of change: Internal:

Economic crises Earthquake

External IMF, WB commitments EU candidacy

Amendments to Constitution

CONTENTS

Overview of the state of public administration and governance in turkey

Needs and challenges in the process of modernization of public administration

Decentralisation of central governance and decision-making

Public service delivery Human resources in the public sector and

leadership E-government Enabling environment for private sector and

investment

OVERVIEW OF THE STATE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE IN TURKEY

Public administration in line with the needs of society and internal and external developments

1982 Constitution Principles:

Legality Of The Administration Rule Of Law Concept Of The Social State State Intervention In The Economic Field Secularism Integrity Of Administration Judicial Review Through Administrative Courts

Amendments to the Constitution

Administration: Within the Executive branch, but a separate

entity Operates in close relation with the

Executive and under the supervision of the legislative, executive and judicial branches

Administrative Structure: 81 provinces 850 districts 3215 municipalities 16 metropolitan municipalities 35000 villages

Administrative structure:

Central Administration1. Central Departments 2. Provincial Organizations3. Autonomous Bodies

1. Regulatory Bodies2. Functionally Decentralized Org. (State Economic

Enterprises)3. Higher Education Board

Local administration 1. Special Provincial Administrations2. Municipalities3. Village Administrations

Central Administration

Central Departments and Provincial Organizations

The Office Of The Prime Minister, the Council Of Ministers, Consultative Agencies

Provincial Organizations; provincial units of the Ministries.

Hierarchical supervision

Autonomous bodies: Regulatory bodies; private sector driven

structure, regulatory policy Telecommunication Authority, Energy Market Regulatory Authority, Board to regulate tobacco and alcoholic beverages, Board to regulate sugar markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency Capital Markets Board of Turkey, Competition Authority, Public Tender Authority Radio Television Supreme Council

State Economic Enterprises Higher Education Board

Local administration Administrative tutelage of the central

administration Divided into three main administrative

tiers. 1. Special Provincial Administrations; provide

public services deemed necessary on the outlying lands not under the jurisdiction of municipalities

2. Municipalities3. Village Administrations

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES

Transparency Accountability Participation Women Participation Responsiveness The role of public sector in economy Auditing Centralist tradition and highly bureaucratic

culture

Transparency

State secret concept, leakage of information

Achievements: The Law on the Organization of the Prime

Ministry The amended Civil Code Right of Information Act Live broadcast of plenary sessions of the

Turkish Grand National Assembly

Accountability

Bureaucratic and administrative supervision; supervision by the superintendents administrative tutelage over local administration

Risks in achieving accountability; corruption, bribery, favoritism and nepotism

Tools for providing accountability: general elections NGOs, and the media administrative and financial accountability, the State

Supervisory Council a “total quality” approach legal accountability; Constitutional Court, the High Court

of Appeals, and the Council of State

Participation

Political participation in Turkey usually takes the form of participation in elections and election campaigns; and, individual or

collective petitioning to political organizations The Eighth Five-Year Development Plan; “a

participatory and people-based administrative system”

Local Agenda 21 The Regulation on Environmental Impact

Assessment (EIA)

Women participation

Low female participation Parliament: % 3.8 Mayors of municipalities: % 0.6 Provincial assembly members: % 1.4 Municipal council members: % 1.6

Responsiveness

Complexity and excessive red-tape in administrative procedures

Developments: The Right to Information Act Administrative Procedural Act

Role of public sector in economy

Leadership of the public sector since 1930s

Auditing

Ineffectiveness in the system of auditing Reasons:

system is largely based on compliance audits emphasis on the formal elements of auditing results of auditing functions are not disclosed to

the public

Centralist tradition and highly bureaucratic culture Solving local problems through the resources

of central government instead of adopting local solutions

Unfairness in revenue sharing between central and local administrations

Weakness of local administrations

DECENTRALISATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNANCE AND DECISION-MAKING

Attitude for annulling this centralist structure Two draft laws on public administration

Public Administration Basic Law Draft laws on Municipalities, Metropolitan

Municipalities and Special Provincial Administrations (SPA)

Division of tasks; democratic governmental system through introducing good governance principles such as transparency, accountability, participation and responsiveness

New tools for good governance in both central and local governments with the draft laws:

Consultation to related parties such as NGOs, universities and professional organizations for any kind of administrative decision or/and acts

Public administration shall provide all information Fiscal information shall be issued to public at certain

times of the year. Role of civil societies shall be strengthened Ombudsmanship at the provincial level is created Existing neighborhood system will be empowered

PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Main criticisms: Intransparent and unaccountable bidding system Delay in privatization process Inadequate interest to allow foreign private

companies Ignored participation Poor quality of services

Recent developments: Privatization

A new instrument in sectors such as communication (GSM operators), gas and electricity distribution, and transportation (Turkish Airlines).

Build- Operate- Transfer Different models of BOT implementation Legal disputes Local administrations

Public Procurement Law New procurement system which meets international

standards, in particular EU standards Public Tender Authority as a public legal entity

Tools for public service delivery: Services directly provided by public administration

authorities Contractual work Partial privatization Leasing Concession Subsidiary arrangements Volunteer personnel Self-help Regulatory and tax incentives

HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND LEADERSHIP

Main criticism of human resources in public

sector are as follows: Rigid system Evaluation of personnel was not depending on

performance criteria The salary system also has not been based on

performance evaluation Civil servants enjoy a life-time employment

Legal framework civil servants

right to establish trade unions without the right to strike (2001)

right to collective bargaining Public workers

wider labor rights such as right to strike and right to be a member of a political party

Recruitment lack of an objective public employment system transformation of the system to a flexible one in

accordance with the EU norms a new entrance exam system

Career career system;

Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance regulatory bodies and to specific governmental

departments such as the State Planning Organization.

Training in public administration no standard training system for civil servants TODAİE

New perspective towards human resources Public Administration Basic Draft Law

E-GOVERNMENT

Weaknesses and challenges Lack of sound infrastructure for e-government Lack of well-defined vision and mission statement Lack of cooperation among governmental agencies Lack of information in the Internet environment Lack of cooperation between governmental agencies

and private sector agencies Lack of willingness in the usage of e-government

tools within bureaucracy The lack of formal education regarding the usage of

computers and the internet The lack of legal framework in the field of e-

government

Recent developments “Restructuring of the Public Administration Project”

under the Prime Ministry The EU initiative: eEurope Program and Action Plan-

eTurkey e-Transformation Turkey Project computerized programs for service delivery, such as

in tax collection and giving licenses e-transformation projects in local government

agencies Localnet

Good practices in e-government implementations

Ministry of Interior; applications for issuing passports Ministry of Interior DG of Registration and Citizenship Retirement Department for Civil Servants Ministry of Finance, Revenue Department

ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR PRIVATE SECTOR AND INVESTMENT

Forces of change: economic and political "restructuring“; Economic

crises, natural disasters, regional and political challenges

accession process to the EU Developments :

private sector is steadily gaining ground creation of a more favorable environment is the

result of the liberalization policies positive developments in the economy political stability with one party government of

Turkey after a long period of coalition governments

Difficulties and achievements administrative structure- new public administration reform psychologically negative perception of the bureaucratic

apparatus- new spirit after the candidacy of Turkey to EU legal problems stemming from the judicial system-

academy for in-service training for judges EU aquis problems related to implementation- slow pace

improvement criticism to protection of intellectual property rights- new

Procurement Law unfair competition- Competition Authority; new Penal Code protection of consumers; new Consumer Protection Law