Changing Policy Advisory Dynamics in the 2000s: The Advisory Roles of Political Scientists in Turkey

AbstractThis chapter maps the changing features of the policy advisory system in Turkey and explores the policy advisory roles of Turkish political scientists in the 2000s. It situates Turkey’s statist policy advisory system in an environment of increasing centralization of executive power in a hybrid regime. In this system, government actors dictate the terms of engagement for key policy actors. They do so against the background of externalization, politicization, privatization, Europeanization and societalization of advice. In addition to case study material, the chapter relies on the ProSEPS survey. According to the survey findings, the typical political scientist in Turkey is a male opinionator, who gives generally informal face-to-face advice to mostly civil society organizations, think tanks and civil servants. This opinionator is an expert in international relations, comparative politics and political theory. Political scientists in Turkey’s advisory system do not differ markedly from their European colleagues in terms of their demographic characteristics, educational attainment, employment status, specialization subfields, channels they use and levels of governance they provide advice at. The chapter concludes by calling for further research on the advisory roles of political scientists in this hybrid regime.