29
This strong and heterogeneous opposition was another reason of delays in Turkish
privatizations accompanying the rhetoric-implementation gap. With democracy and
sagging political support, civil governments of the post-1983 era resorted to inflationary
politics of increased expenditures apparent in wage resettlements, subsidies to SOEs and
to other special interest groups as well as increasingly generous export incentives. These
were similar to neopopulist policies
18
pursued in Argentina and other places in Latin
America applying privatization programs that were supervised by the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
19
2.2. Privatizations and democratization in Turkey: the actual implementation
of privatizations in Turkey and the institutionalization of structural change
Privatizations were presented to the public as a tool of popular capitalism by the
ANAP government. Accordingly, the main reason why Ozal said he was undertaking
privatizations was because he wanted to incorporate middle income strata into decision
making: “Workers, from then on, will not only be owners of the company where they
work but will also have a chance to participate in its decision making. When a worker
18
The government of Menem was a populist one administered by antipopulist technocrats. With fiscal
solvency achieved thanks to the heterodox Convertibility Plan of 1991, interest rates decreased, real
purchasing power increased, commercial credit reappeared, and business failures declined. Investment and
employment increased in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Along with these positive developments, the government
increased social spending. Neopopulism is when the government is able to maintain its monetary base and
reserve levels as required by law, as it simultaneously increases public spending. In the case of Turkey,
political opposition rather than economic success was behind the return to populist policies amidst
neoliberal restructuring. In any case, neopopulist policies can hamper economic growth. For more details,
please see Palermo (1998).
19
Onis and Aysan (2000) associate the reemergence of populist policies, particularly in the period
following the fuller democratization of 1987 when final restrictions of the previous military era were lifted
in Turkey, with democratization itself. More likely, both the pressing economic needs and political
opposition played a role in a return to populist politics by governments applying privatizations.
Democratization is more likely to have intensified the degree and likelihood of this choice as is the fact that
both ANAP (Anavatan Partisi) in Turkey and PJ (Partido Justicialista) in Argentina were neoliberal
converts, and previously and essentially populist parties.
Convention