Benevolence or Selfishness: Understanding the Increasing Role of Turkish NGOs and Civil Society in Africa
Turkey has changed its policy in Africa since 2005 and developed a more active role to cement its political, economic and social relations with African countries. For instance, while Turkey had only 12 embassies around the continent in 2002, it now has 35. Its economic relations with Africa have also increased significantly over the past decade. Although its total trade was 2 billion dollars in 2002, it boomed to 22 billion dollars in 2013. Turkish non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations have also boosted their humanitarian activities in Africa. They have established hospitals, mosques, orphanages, schools and colleges, opened water wells and provided free cataract surgeries. This article will examine why Turkish NGOs and civil society organisations have increased their humanitarian assistance in Africa since 2002. The research will also uncover the main motivations to the increasing role of Turkish NGOs and civil society organisations on the continent of Africa.
Triangle of Network and Influence: Indigenous NGOs, Civil Society and the State as Strategic Development Actors in Sudan: 1983 – 2003
English) Sudan witnessed a surge in the growth of NGOs and civil society organizations during the period of 1983 and 2003. A number of factors were behind the growth and expanding role of NGOs and civil society into development. This thesis explores the inter link between Indigenous NGOs, Civil Society and the State as strategic development actors in Sudan. It is also about how poor people use, own social capital to link with other influential actors from within NGOs and civil society to exert pressure and influence main stream policies affecting them. The study takes a holistic approach to address challenges of poverty and development, arguing that NGOs and people social capital are keys to people-centered development. In the course of collecting research material, the thesis adopted participatory research methods, using field survey where stakeholders played a role in data collection, a questionnaire covering a sample of projects and interventions by NGOs and civil society organizations, and unpublished reports. In addition, secondary sources also provided rich information of the policy objective and performance of NGOs, civil society and the state in delivering developmental goods. Following the analysis of the research material, the candidate arrived at a number of findings, the important one of which confirms the significance of NGOs and civil society as vehicles for political development and promotion of participatory governance and development. It is found out that people could influence mainstream politics and policies only if they opted for investing in social capital and
Transformation of Islamic political identity in Turkey: Rethinking the West and westernization
As opposition to the West and westernization used to be the basis of Islamic political identity in modern Turkey, the recent effort of the Islamists at rethinking this historical positioning, it is argued, has paved the way for the emergence of a new form of Islamic identity as reflected in the program and practice of the ruling Justice and Development Party. Thus this study, first, explains how the positioning of the Islamists vis‐à‐vis the West and westernization constructed an Islamic political identity; then explores the circumstances that led the Islamists to reconsider their positioning; and finally evaluates the impact of this discursive shift on the identity formation and policy orientation of the ruling Justice and Development Party.