The aim of this study is to analyze the transformation of the official discourse and perception of the Kurdish issue and Kurds through its representations in Turkish media since 1990. Ottoman period and the Republican period till 1990s are studied in the first phase, in order to provide the historical backgroud of the Kurdish question and state&rsquo / s perception of the issue. In the second phase, representations of state&rsquo / s perception of the Kurdish issue in H&uuml / rriyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers are analyzed by using Critical Discourse Analysis techniques. The transformation of the official discourse of the Kurdish issue is examined through eight cases: the Gulf War I in 1991, events occurred during the Parliamentary Oath Ceremony in 1991, Nevruz of 1992, HADEP congress in 1996, capture of Semdin Sakik in 1998 and Abdullah &Ouml / calan in 1999, the Gulf War II in 2003, Nevruz of 2005, Semdinli incident and debates on identity in 2005 and 2006. In this study, it is claimed that state&rsquo / s perception and discourse of the Kurdish issue has transformed since 1990s without a total detachment from its traditional perception and discourse of the issue.

This study aims to understand and explain World Bank&rsquo / s changing approach to poverty since 1990. Established as a development institution and as one of the leading members of development community, the World Bank has nearly turned out to be a poverty alleviation institution especially from late 1990s on. This change is a reflection of a process in which the Bank shapes its approach to poverty not only in accordance with its own goals but also in the framework of what happens in wider social, economic and political spheres of which the Bank is a part as a subject that both shapes and is shaped by them to a certain extent. Consequently, a remarkable change is observed in the Bank&rsquo / s approach, and this process of change is investigated in this study in two sub-periods that are characterized by ruptures in continuity. The first period more or less between 1990 and 1997 is characterized by the Bank&rsquo / s neoliberal approach to poverty, which mainly assumes poverty as a complementary element of structural adjustment programs in countries they are implemented. The second period from 1997 up to present is characterized, on the other hand, by a &ldquo / third way&rdquo / approach to poverty which mainly assumes poverty-as-social-exclusion as an indispensable central element of a renewed hegemonic project. In this study, the traces of these ruptures and the continuity in the Bank&rsquo / s approach are followed through their reflections on Turkey by making a close reading of the Bank&rsquo / s documents about poverty in Turkey.

This study has discussed women&rsquo / s empowerment through development projects. For this aim, development thought and practices are questioned by establishing their relationship with modernization theory and (neo)liberal politics / the theories, which include women and development, are issued historically. From these theories, Women in Development (WID) Approach, Gender and Development (GAD) Approach, and Empowerment Approach are critically discussed. In the study three points are emphasized. Firstly, the theoretical approaches have developed by articulating to each other. Secondly, the approaches have lost their transformative and political characteristics in the usage of mainstream development theoricians and institutions. It is pointed that the inclusion of women into development by the mainstream is instrumentalized for the other development goals. Thirdly, although the language of GAD and Empowerment Approaches are adopted by the mainstream, at the discursive and practical level, the dominancy of WID continues. The development projects implemented in Turkey, in the period between 1960 and 1980 and post 1980 that are significant periods of the economic and political history of Turkey, are evaluated from gender perspective and their parallel characteristics to the discourse and practices in the world are indicated. It is seen that whereas the GAD and Empowerment Approach exist in the language of the development projects implemented in Turkey, they do not reflect to the practices. Within the light of these discussions, to be able to comprehend whether the development projects provide contribution to women&rsquo / s empowerment or not, two development projects that are implemented in Turkey are analyzed. The projects are assessed from the Empowerment Approach, as a current feminist approach in the development field, within the framework of power relations.

This thesis aims to understand how civil society developed and evolved in the modern history of Iran and how it operates in the current day through the eyes of the actors of this realm. The fieldwork of the study was conducted in Tehran in 2006. This study, while questioning the liberal understanding of civil society, endeavours to contemplate a consistent framework in which the Iranian civil society activities could be located. The Iranian case proved the existence of a vivid civil society despite a repressive political climate. However, instead of comprehending the Iranian civil society as constant or developing, this thesis showed that civil society is in fact evolving according to the power relations between the state and civil society. In this sense, Iranian civil society is neither weak or nor strong but rather its strength is changing vis-&agrave / -vis the relations with the Iranian state.

Understanding the class position of family owned small scale agricultural production units, which constitute a common feature of the rural context in the later capitalized countries, have been one of the major discussion points in the Marxist literature. The continual existence of such a form of production organization with significant non-capitalist features under the enlarging capitalist organization of production despite the initial assumptions of Marxist analysis that it was a transitory form which will soon differentiate between proletariat and bourgeoisie have prompted a number if attempts at explaining the survival of this category. These debates have strongly influenced the analyses in the field of rural sociology from 1960s onwards, providing the conceptual tools for sociological analysis of rural relations of production. This thesis engages in an attempt of re-appraising the theoretical debates within Marxist analysis of petty agricultural production organization together with considering the recent transnational reorganization of agricultural production. The neo-liberal retraction of state as a regulating force and loosening the protectionist policies has lead to the rise of the power of Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) in the field of agriculture in the past couple of decades. Contractual farming is defined as a major form of direct relationship TNCs establish with petty agricultural producers to exercise their determining power over the organization of agricultural production. Together with a case study of contractual farming, the thesis discusses how could we define the class positions of this segment and whether their relationship with TNCs have a significant affect over our definitions.

This thesis explores popular perception of &#039 / Turkish Cypriotness&#039 / in relation to Greek Cypriots and T&uuml / rkiyeliler in the framework of struggling political discourses proposing conflicting identities to the population in the northern part of Cyprus. Purpose of the study is to understand dominant elements in self-representations of &#039 / native&#039 / Turkish Cypriots in the context of relatively new reality, namely, the partition of the island and immigration from Turkey. In other words, this study focuses on images of &#039 / Turkish Cypriots&#039 / and of their &#039 / Others&#039 / - Greek Cypriots and T&uuml / rkiyeliler- in popular discourse. For the purpose of understanding the self-perception of identity among &#039 / native&#039 / Turkish Cypriots, in-depth interviews were conducted in different cities of the northern part of the island. As a result of analyses of these narratives, the relational and precarious nature of identificatory practice is pointed. Moreover, problems relating to dominant perception of &#039 / Turkish Cypriotness&#039 / marked with hierarchical exclusion of T&uuml / rkiyeliler is stressed. It is concluded that popular perception of &#039 / Turkish Cypriotness&#039 / signals the fact that, more than opening space for a transnational attachment, Cyprus-centered identity fosters exclusivist approach towards T&uuml / rkiyeli &#039 / Other&#039 / .

This thesis aims to examine Kemalism perception of METU students. Author intends to display how METU students imagine and think Kemalism. Thesis first examines the ideological journey of Kemalism to indicate the main notions of Kemalism to the reader and by doing so, explains the intellectual ground of the statements which were used in the survey of thesis. The way how Kemalism was constructed, the stages that Kemalism passed through the past, the connections of Kemalism with other ideologies, the formation and standing of current Kemalism and the arguments of Kemalism against globalization, European Union, Kurdish issue and Islamism will all be analyzed.

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the transformation of the Turkish welfare regime in the framework of the social security reforms and the effect of the individual pension system on both this transformation and women&rsquo / s welfare considering the gender gap in retirement. While there is a growing literature on Turkey&rsquo / s social security reform, there are only few studies on the gender dimension of social security and the gender effects of the reform. This study aims to contribute to this literature by examining the gender gap in recently introduced individual pension system (2003) in Turkey from a sociological perspective. The literature review focuses mainly on Esping-Andersen&rsquo / s welfare regime typology and its critics to categorize the current welfare regime of Turkey. The Southern European welfare regimes are examined particularly to construct a theoretical framework for the Turkish welfare regime and its transformation. Furthermore, the literature on gender inequality and social security is examined to discuss the gender gap in private pension systems. This thesis based upon some statistical and actuarial analyses to explore the gender gap. By using &lsquo / actual data&rsquo / the effects of some sociodemographic and socio-economic factors on the participation and the contribution rate to the individual pension system are examined. Besides, gender gap in benefits that arise from the defined contribution schemes in a serious of projection using a stochastic actuarial model is analyzed. The study is supported by the interviews made with three experts and decision makers about these issues.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the asylum seekers that reside in Turkey temporarily, from their own standpoint and from the viewpoint of workers and representatives working in the agencies and institutes involved in the field. This work focuses on the inconveniences experienced by asylum seekers and refugees during their stay in Turkey and the reasons of these inconveniences, in the context of social exclusion. The research for this thesis is based on the analysis of the in-depth interviews that were done with the asylum seekers, representatives and workers in UNHCR, government and in several NGOs. Relevant report by the UNHCR, and the scholarly literatures on migration and asylum and on transit migration and asylum seeking through Turkey was examined. The results of the study can be sorted as follows: Firstly, there is an increasing and visible reluctance to accept refugees in the world. Secondly, it is seen that Turkey does not have an effective asylum policy and legal arrangements on this issue. Thirdly, not only the asylum seekers but also the officers who are dealing with them face some problems. Lastly, it had been observed during the interviews asylum seekers are being excluded different ways during the period of living in Turkey.

In this study, the emergence of e-government as a &lsquo / governing rationality&rsquo / (i.e. e-governmentalisation) is analyzed from the Foucauldian genealogical perspective. In that sense, the type of governing rationalities, the modes of subjectivities, the strategies of power-knowledge and the practices of normalization/inclusion and exclusion that are linked to the emergence of e-governmentalisation are emphasized. Deleuze&rsquo / s essay on &lsquo / the societies of control&rsquo / is used as a theoretical framework in which the emergence of e-governmentalisation is positioned. Different aspects of the society of control are discussed within different chapters taking into account the material transformations in capitalism, the changing mentalities of the state, changing practices and rationalities of surveillance and the changing rationalities of inclusion and exclusion. Based on these analyzes, it is claimed that e-governmentalisation has two interrelated aspects. On the one hand, it is an &lsquo / ethico-political&rsquo / rationality which tries to transform individuals into active, techno-entrepreneurial subjects which is required for the production and re-production of the neoliberal knowledge-based society. On the other hand, it is a rationality of surveillance which tries to govern individuals through enhanced systems of surveillance such as databases. Throughout the thesis, the context of Turkey in terms of these two aspects of e-governmentalisation is also taken into account in order to make the theoretical discussions more concrete. It is concluded that e-governmentalisation is an intensifying rationality of the state which may have an influence on the identities of the citizens, on the formal citizenship status and on practices of inclusion and exclusion.