Corporate Governance and Accountability in the Age of Multilevel Governance in Turkey

Corporate governance and accountability are getting more and more important both for world and Turkish economies thanks to increasing competitiveness conditions among companies. Applications of corporate governance principles can show differences from country to country. In Turkey, The Capital Markets Board issued corporate governance principles in 2003 to improve the corporate governance environment and integrate the Turkish capital market with global financial markets. The board has also adopted these principles in 2005 and made them final. The new Turkish Commercial Code is based on corporate governance principles. The new Turkish Commercial Code constitutes the legal infrastructure for corporate governance practices.

The Transformation of the Public Administration in the Multi-Level Governance Era

The speed of transformation and development in information and communication technologies is an important fact triggering the restructuring process of public administration. The developing countries have become integrated into this process through public administration reform methods presented by international institutions. Transfer of information and communication technologies have become important for modernizing public administration organizations of developing countries and adapting them to the global system. In multilevel governance, use and implementation of the information technologies enabling network structuring between institutions have a particular importance. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to present the process followed by Turkey for adapting information and communication technologies to public administration organization and provision of public services in the frame of a multilevel governance approach.

A Theoretical Insight Into the Multi-Level Governance

Multi-level governance has been described as an updated form of governance that began in the early 1990s. The traditional distinction between domestic and foreign politics was eliminated in the same period. This study aims at clarifying the concept of multi-level governance in both the Europeanization literature and the European Union studies. The research question is, What are the definitions, dynamics, characteristics of multi-level governance in both the Europeanization literature and the European Union studies? In methodology, it is a theoretical study that remains on literature review.

Reflections of the Multi-Level Governance Approach on the Turkish Metropolitan Municipality System

This chapter is conducted according to the descriptive survey model in order to analyze within the framework of the multi-level governance approach the new metropolitan model created and the changes introduced by the Law No 6360 with their positive and negative aspects. Based on the recent related theoretical and empirical literature, the study addresses three issues in a comprehensive and systematic way: concept of multi-level governance, the reflections of the multi-level governance approach in the field of metropolitans in Turkey, the new metropolitan model brought by the Law No 6360 will be analyzed together with all the innovations it has introduced. Changes created by the new metropolitan model (representation and participation, local democracy, administrative structure, fiscal decentralization service provision, etc.) are evaluated along both their positive and negative dimensions.

Assessing Public Sector Learning Following a Natural Disaster

Disasters are extreme events that usually requirg01e multiple stakeholders' involvement. Public, private, and third-sector actors; local, national, and international parties need to form a well-functioning multilevel network of disaster management and rescue to be able to cope with large and unexpected disasters. The lack of well-coordinated efforts, well-coordinated staff, and well-coordinated organizations is generally one of the main causes of failure to cope with major disasters. This chapter describes disaster management as a multilevel governance activity. It will illustrate the practical side of multilevel governance by emphasizing specifically the multilevel learning process of multilevel governance actors during times of crises. The authors review literature on organizational learning and network learning, both in normal times and during crises, and they assess learning following two major earthquakes that struck Turkey in 1999, separated in time by only 89 days. Five propositions are made regarding multilevel learning in times of crises: 1) Level of learning: there are three levels of learning (organizational, interorganizational network, and policy) during and after a crisis that are relevant to improved interorganizational network performance in future crises; 2) Depth of learning: the depth of learning (single-loop or double-loop) varies based on the stage of the crisis or disaster faced by network actors; 3) Method of learning: the methods of knowledge acquisition will vary based on the role or function of the organization or organizations within a network prior to the crisis event; 4) Learning dependency: learning at one level may be highly dependent on factors at other levels; and 5) Learning environment: there are a set of conditions that need to be met in an environment in order for a crisis to trigger learning in organizations, networks, and at the policy level.

Multiculturalism and Multi-Level Governance in Turkish Local Governments

The term multiculturalism is a new term that was introduced to the social sciences literature, describing the fact that people living within the same society may differ from one another in terms of such notions as ethnical origin, color, language, religion, culture, and denomination. Multiculturalism policies have probably had more of an opportunity for application in the local governments compared to the central executive units. The local governments, whose powers and responsibilities have increased in the ever-changing and ever-growing public government manners, have transformed into base platforms where these policies are easily applied. In this trend of progress, with the proliferation of participatory democracy and good governance principles, the concept of multi-level governance has become an issue, entirely matching up with the services and functions of the local governments. As part of the legislative regulations in parallel with the EU harmonization process, Turkey has attempted to put into practice the multi-level governance principle on the local governments.

The Importance of the Participatory Democracy and the Multilevel Governance in the Solution of the Problems of Representative Democracy

Ideas aiming at overcoming the crisis of legitimacy are available on the solution to the problem of representative democracy. Particularly, multi-level governance structures which were created by the impact of model of participatory democracy and localization and regionalization processes have a significant place among these. Moreover, finding solutions to the crisis of representative democracy, participatory democracy, and multi-level governance approach are discussed in this study. In this context, as well as stating the method of the study within a theoretical framework, deficiencies of participatory democracy and multi-level governance are also mentioned. Finally, it is also examined that a model of participatory democracy and of the multi-level governance may be a solution to the problem of representative democracy.

Sustainability Reporting and Multilevel Governance

Providing transparency and accountability can be achieved by efficient governance mechanisms, which need interactive participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process. On the other hand, it is fair to say that traditional reporting is inadequate to inform stakeholders of an organization's activities. Therefore, sustainability accounting has become more popular among authorities and organizations in order to provide comprehensive information which concentrates on value creation and sustainable development. In this chapter, the authors aim to touch on the need of sustainability accounting to support multilevel governance mechanisms by describing the main dimensions of sustainability accounting and integrated reporting.

Trust Responsibility Arising From Within the Companies Community

Within the scope of Turkish Commercial Code, Turkey is the first state to regulate the responsibility of corporate groups adopted with the Wibru/Swissair verdict of Switzerland Supreme Court (BGE 120 II 331) arising out of trust in society or consumers in its national legislation. The main subject of the study is the provision regulated in article 209.

Regional Integration Through Locality

Multi-level governance suggests that there should be no hierarchical dependency relationship between policy actors of different policy levels. In fact, the model hinges on the independent interaction of local and regional governments at national and supra-national levels without the mediating role and status of national governments. This development in fact parallels the acceptance of cities and local governments as policy actors. MLG is not a magic cure to heal every illness, but it is a method and an action plan for tackling problems. It is being used in various areas by the EU to realize European cohesion. The first and foremost among these areas is urban policies and urban regeneration practices. The EU has adopted the integrated urban regeneration approach to decrease the problems associated with social exclusions and the regeneration of problematic urban areas. Together with the enlargement process, cohesion efforts have increased, and urban programs subsidized by the EU have been implemented intensively in central, eastern, and southern European states.