Abstract:

The state and social movements, which are in a contentious struggle with each other, have been studied as two separate fields for a long time. While social movements’ capacity to shape the state and its institutions are widely discussed, a new phenomenon is emerging focusing on the certain government agencies which are imitating social movements. Local governments do not accept top-down policies/projects and adopt a method of contentious struggle in which they claim rights by using various social movement methods, including protest, in coordination with urban movements. Local governments can also mobilize some resources that are limited in social movements. This study benefiting from the literature of Public Administration, Local Governments and Social Movements, focuses on the historical background of governmental activism in Turkey, discusses the political, economic and social conditions that shape this type of activism and its current dynamics. We will examine why local governments turn to activism, on which areas such activism concentrates, which action repertoires it resorts to, and which state institutions it addresses. It will be argued that governmental activism stems from centralist and developmental tendencies, the rise of local democracy, and finally, the effectiveness of social movements.

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