The Impact of Transnational Municipal Networks on Climate Policy-Making: The Case Study of Gaziantep, Nilufer and Seferihisar Municipalities


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2016

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: DUYGU BÜTÜN

Danışman: Osman Balaban

Özet:

Climate change is accepted as a global threat, which requires global solutions. The climate policy has witnessed a growing involvement of municipalities over the past 20 years. Urban responses to climate change have become increasingly important when the reluctance of national governments and the failure of international negotiations since the early 2000s are considered. As a city-based initiative to address the climate problem, Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs) have emerged in order to guide local governments in shaping their local climate change strategies since the early 1990s. These networks provide a platform in which cities benefit from accessing to information, sharing experiences and knowledge with other member cities, technical support and opportunity to access funding through partnerships. This study focuses on understanding the reasons behind the municipalities’ membership to TMNs as well as the outcomes of governing the climate problem through the TMNs with two major aims: the first one being the identification of the motivations and dynamics that led municipalities to become members of the TMNs, and the second being the designation of the extent that these networks affect local policy- and decision-making processes of the member cities. Thus, the empirical research on three cases from Turkey will show what member cities gain from the TMNs in terms of practical and concrete outputs as well as of changes in the local policy- and decision-making processes. The three case municipalities are Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Nilüfer Municipality, and Seferihisar Municipality, which are found to have memberships to several important TMNs.