An Examination of Centralized Local Governance and Development Through Turkey’s New Mega-Municipalities

Abstract

This paper delves into the political centralization versus decentralization debate by an- alyzing Turkey’s sweeping local governance reforms between 2012 and 2014. The reforms implemented formed and broadened the jurisdiction of mega-municipalities and significantly reduced the autonomy of rural communities. Taking advantage of contiguous rural commu- nities that were not subjected to the reforms, we answer the question of what the impact of centralization on the overall economic development, proxied by NASA’s new Black Marble nighttime lights, has been. Our findings reveal a notable 9% higher nighttime lights in newly centralized regions. A similar analysis indicates that existing (but territorially expanded) mega-municipalities witnessed no discernible changes in their light emissions. We show that population retention in centralized regions is 5% more than their neighbors. Moreover, we attempt to gauge the public sentiment towards centralization by comparing the vote share of the AKP government, the primary enforcer of these governance changes. The results sug- gest a nuanced overall sentiment, indicating a net dissatisfaction with the changes, thereby holding the policy makers accountable.