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