The objectives of the present study were (1) to examine the relationship between culture and value concepts, (2) to compare Post-communist Turkic students studying in Turkish universities and Turkish university students based on their value structures, and (3) to attempt to integrate Triandis&rsquo / and Schwartz&rsquo / s conceptualizations of culture. The sample of this study consisted of Turkish university students (N=292) and Post-communist Turkic students studying in Turkish universities (N=299). Individualism-Collectivism (INDCOL) Scale measuring individualism-collectivism and vertical-horizontal dimensions of culture and Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) measuring the main value types and dimensions were employed to all participants together with some demographic measures. Partial correlation analysis (gender and age were controlled) revealed systematic relationships between culture and value types in expected direction. Horizontal-collectivists appeared to give priority to value of benevolence, vertical-individualists to achievement, and vertical-collectivists to power. The comparison of two samples indicated that Post-communist Turkic sample reported higher levels of embeddedness and lower levels of intellectual autonomy, affective autonomy and egalitarianism than Turkish students. The findings concerning the integration of different culture and value conceptualizations demonstrated that Post-communist Turkic sample reported higher levels of vertical-collectivism and lower levels of horizontal-individualism than Turkish sample supporting acclimation-compensation hypothesis. Findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature and characteristics of the samples, recent developments in Central Asia, and acculturation issues. The study has contributed to the existing literature on the cross-cultural validation of relationship between culture and value conceptualizations using student samples from rarely examined cultures.

This study aimed to describe the life standard in the post-Soviet context taking the Republic of Adygeya, one of the poorest districts of Post-Soviet Russia, as an example. The applicability of the European approach to the life standard (quality of life) was also in question. The survey in Adygeya showed that life standard research is applicable in the post-Soviet context. However, modifications are necessary and not all concepts are comparable to the world outside the ex-Soviet region. The descriptive chapters on the case of Adygeya include income, economic life, settlement, necessities and ownership, the failure of the systems of education and heath, democracy and citizens as well as the general evaluation of the quality of life and satisfaction.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the impact of nation building policies over the Russian minority in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. In order to do so, the thesis first examines the Soviet nationality policies in general and their practice in Kazakhstan in particular. Second, the thesis examines the impact of the post-Soviet nation building policies over the Russians in Kazakhstan by focusing on five major issues: political elites, state planning and recruitment policy, language policy and rewriting of history, issue of citizenship and the relocation of the state capital. As a result, the thesis argues that, the post-Soviet nation building policies of Kazakhstan have overall had a negative impact over the Russian minority living in the republic. It is argued that this negative impact is mostly visible in the areas employment, and social and cultural spheres. In addition, the thesis also argues that opponents of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, both Russian and Kazakh, have largely been curbed by the Kazakh government.

In this thesis, the aim is to understand social exclusion of urban youth living in Altindag, one of the most disadvantaged districts of Ankara. In this study, social exclusion is accepted as a process of long term non-participation in the economic, civic, and social spheres which integrate the society in which an individual lives. Therefore, the definition of social exclusion centered on the notion of &lsquo / lack of integration&rsquo / is accepted as a background of the study. In this respect, social exclusion is accepted as an endpoint in a irreversible process of being placed in the margins of society. Furthermore, this thesis attempted to identify the dimensions and levels which can cause entry or exit from these processes and to understand how the multiple and cumulative disadvantage shapes experiences and feelings of young people in most disadvantaged conditions in order to be able to argue how closely do the experiences of the youth described in this study connect with popular and influential discussions of social exclusion. Also the consequences of social exclusion for young people living in Altindag are analysed. Hence, the social exclusion of youth living in Altindag is analyzed on the basis of three dimensions which are education, labour market, and social capital. Furthermore, in each dimension structural, local and individuals levels are also examined. Some major conclusions of the research are that there is not one single and uniform experience of social exclusion among young people / that a context of social exclusion does not generate just one way of getting by for young people / that exclusionary process can be experienced as a &ldquo / vicious circle&rdquo / or as a &ldquo / spiral of disadvantage&rdquo / that social exclusion has a multi-dimensional character / and that family and community support is important for not being excluded economically and socially, but it also can create to dimension of exclusion when such support systems are the only support mechanisms of the disadvantaged youth.

This thesis analyzes the IMF stabilization packages and how those packages may affect the development. In order to explain the applications of the Packages, Argentine case is discussed for the period of 1990&rsquo / s. By analyzing the theories behind the IMF Stabilization packages, it is aimed to explain the conditionalities, actions and results, as could be observed in Argentine case.

This thesis takes up the mantle of studying the Constitutional Treaty in the context of European Integration. This work examines how constitutionalization affected the process of European integration in relation to the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. Albert O. Hirschman&#039 / s Exit, Voice and Loyalty paradigm is used to assess and define the process of constitutionalization in the context of the supranational and intergovernmental tendencies of the European construct which birthed the democratic deficit in its foundational period. Special focus is allotted to the role of the European elites in drafting the Constitutional Treaty which was the culmination of their attempts to compensate for the foundational lack of democratic legitimacy. In order to make this assessment this thesis delineates the history of European integration. Furthermore, this work examines the European constitutional drive and evaluates the implications of the failed ratification process in correlation to the aforementioned issues. In conclusion this thesis maintains that the future feasibility of the constitutional project is directly related to the degree of democratic legitimacy achieved by the whole of the European Union.

This study is an attempt to analyse the newspaper supplements published by the Turkish printed press. An analysis of the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the contents of the newspaper supplements selected due to the circulation numbers follows a brief history of the newspaper supplements. The study ends with the interviews made with the editor-in-chiefs of the weekend supplements. What results from these two analyses on different levels is that even though the basic aim of the daily newspaper supplements, mainly the weekend supplements is to increase the advertising revenues of the publishing companies, the content presented to the readers through these supplements also plays an important role in the social-ideological reproduction as the symbol of a specific life style. Therefore, this study also shows that critical political-economic approaches have to be completed with cultural analyses in the media studies.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the European Union has focused its attention on moving the Central and Eastern European Countries towards democracy and the market economy, which culminated in the accession of these countries to the European Union on May 2004. With the accession of the ten new members to the Union, the European Union has acquired new neighbors and come closer to the old ones, with whom it had only indirectly interested in. There is a conviction in EU circles that future widening towards these countries is not possible without risking the integration process which the European countries have developed in the last fifty years. In addition to this internal consideration, the new neighbors of the EU, some of which have already declared their membership ambitions, are the countries which the EU perceives it cannot integrate in the foreseeable future because of their social, economic and political underdevelopment. In response to these realities, the Union developed the European Neighborhood Policy. In this thesis, potential of the new neighborhood policy to fulfill its objectives of being second best alternative to membership and its promise in providing a meaningful framework that is satisfactory both for the EU and its neighbors will be analyzed. Additionally, its impact on the European Union&rsquo / s foreign policy in general will be elaborated. It will be argued in this thesis that the ENP has such serious limitations in terms of its formulation, institutions, and its incentives that it will fail to realize its original aspirations.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the adaptation of Turkey to EU research and innovation policies in the light of developments in within their own dynamics, and within the framework of obligations of the accession period. A comparative analysis of Turkish and EU policies is made by pointing out the weaknesses of Turkey, which are supported by related indicators specifying the gap between EU in research and innovation capabilities. In accordance with the findings of the comparison of Turkey and EU, this study attempts to develop recommendations for the reassessment of existing policy tools, and to propose new policy instruments within organizational and institutional infrastructure, implementation and further integration with EU in research and innovation. The evaluations highlight that Turkey is experiencing problems in structuring and implementing its policy instruments, rather than developing policy formulations.

This thesis concentrates on the development of human rights policy of the European Economic Communities(EEC) within its transformation process into a political organization. the assumption underlying this study is that the EEC was established following World War II as a regional solution that would enable the restructuring of Europe on the bases of power, stability, and peace. this thesis deals with enlargement as a security-oriented strategy, while, at the same time, it endeavors to analyze the EEC treatment of foreign policy, peace, security and respect for human rights issues as it completed its economic integration process.