Research Information System
Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of Economics, Turkey
Approval Date: 2015
Student: ARMAĞAN ÖNDER HERGÜNER
Supervisor: MÜNİS SEVEN AĞIR
Abstract:There is a significant literature that investigates business interest groups and how they interact with public and private interests. Yet, the historical evolution of business interest groups in Turkey is still meager. With the start of the Second Constitutional Period, there was an increase in the number of corporations which were founded in the Ottoman Empire. Particularly, during the World War I, as a result of national economy policies, Muslim-Turkish ownership dominated these corporations and the new government in Ankara maintained these policies aiming to support national bourgeoisie during the 1920s. In this study, political economy of corporations founded in this period will be examined by focusing on how political authorities affected establishment and operation of these corporations. The main aim is, first, building a comprehensive data set and then examining when a "national" (Muslim) corporate sector emerged, in which sectors they operated and how national economy practices materialized. Our main argument is that during a period of political turmoil, in the Ottoman Empire and then in Turkey, as a late-late comer country, within the context of limited capital accumulation and limited state capacity, and also in the existence of traditional classes (such as esnaf), Ottoman institutional heritage was a decisive factor in the evolution of corporations, as a new form of business.