Abstract:

As a social being, the human need for security has shaped the socio-economic structures of societies with the industrial revolution. Among these structures, social security stands out with its inclusive and restorative function. In Turkey, social security is one of the main instruments for combating poverty, preventing economic inequalities and developing people-centered public strategies; in short, for realizing social justice. The study aims to draw a framework on how the social security system in the Republic of Turkey, which would celebrate its centenary and has a unique heritage of liberation struggle, has followed a course of development and where it stands today. The social security system in Turkey has gone through critical transformation phases, both legally, institutionally and digitally. It is possible to read these phases as a social policy struggle to protect human labor and its gains in line with the requirements of the age. In the study, this unique development of the social security system is analyzed on the basis of the dynamics in its legal and intellectual background, with a distinction between traditional and normative periods. The reform process that determines the current stage of the system is analyzed with a focus on the strategy pursued to ensure unity in implementation through the formation of a single institutional framework. The study draws attention to the threats posed to the actuarial sustainability of the system by the contraction in employment and underlines the need to invest more in equality and social justice for a stronger and more inclusive social security system in the coming centuries.

Keywords: