Modernization, Globalization and Europeanization in the Cities of Anatolia, Turkey in Post 1980s

This study will portray the socio-economic and cultural bases of the alternative modernity claims of three Anatolian cities: Kayseri, Gaziantep and Eskisehir. The intention is to build a picture of the local socio-economic and cultural capacities of these cities and compare them. This comparative analysis will also involve a temporal dimension in the differentiation between the pre-1980s and post-1980s periods. It is hoped that this will offer a better perspective on the different starting points of the cities that resulted from historical levels of state involvement, which in turn produced variation in the formation of industrial and manufacturing capacities. Various practices of market-based policies, which influenced the socio-economic conditions in these cities, will be presented to help us conceive of the differential impacts of these policies. Similarly, by looking at export capacities and labour market indicators in each city, we will have a more complete picture of the basis for claims of success. Two external processes, globalization and Europeanization and the changes and transformations they elicited will also be discussed as additional and significant components in these cities’ claims to success.