Voter reaction to government incompetence and corruption related to the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey

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Akarca A. T., TANSEL A.

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC STUDIES, cilt.43, sa.2, ss.309-335, 2016 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 43 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1108/jes-07-2014-0115
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.309-335
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Governance, Turkey, Corruption, Natural disaster, Election, Voter behaviour, Disaster aid, Voter turnout, FOREIGN DIRECT-INVESTMENT, TURKISH PARLIAMENTARY, ECONOMIC-DETERMINANTS, ENDOGENOUS CORRUPTION, VOTING-BEHAVIOR, GROWTH, ELECTIONS, DISASTER, CHARGES, QUALITY
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Purpose - Two major earthquakes which struck Northwestern Turkey in 1999 exposed rampant corruption involving construction and zoning code violations. The government's relief efforts were tainted by corruption as well, and exhibited a great deal of incompetence. How voters responded to these in the next election held in 2002 is investigated. The fact that different group of parties were responsible for the construction of the shoddy buildings, and for the corruption and mismanagement related to relief, provided us with a unique opportunity to determine whether and how the electorate punished the culprits for each of these. The purpose of this paper is to shed light also on the new party system which emerged in Turkey after 2002.