Social municipalism concept in Turkey: the case of Kocaeli metropolitan municipality

Abstract

Until recently, municipalities, which play a role in the development and implementation of the social policy of a country, used to be regarded as organisations rendering services related to the physical structure of a province or a district. Today, the concept of "social municipalism" has started to be used frequently in the scope of municipality services. Indeed, though this concept was first considered during the initial years of the Turkish Republic, it took quite a long time to put this concept into practice. For instance, the Municipality Law dated 1930 provided for local administrations to open rest homes for the elderly in need of care and protection, however, the first nursing home did not open until 1966 in Konya Province. Social municipalities undertake the functions of making plans and arrangements about social sectors. In this framework, these municipalities channel public expenditure into social purposes so as to cover fields such as housing, health, education and environmental protection; provide aid to the unemployed and the homeless; try to build social cohesion and integration; make efforts to secure infrastructure investments that are necessary to carry out socio-cultural activities and works and, to this end, envisage development of enlightened policies; undertake socialisation and social control function to strengthen social cohesion and concepts of justice which have shrunk among some individuals and some social groups. In this study, the concept of "social municipalism" in Turkey will be discussed and the related activities of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality will be examined.