From old regional development policies to new regionalism paradigm in turkey

One of the main economic problems of Turkey has been the increasing gap between the underdeveloped East and the developed West. Old regional policy approach has not met the needs of the country because of its hierarchical structure and state-centred coordination. Local/regional development policies in Turkey goes handin- hand with the national plans and does not reflect the demands of local people. The objective of the article is to provide new regional development paradigm argument as a solution to the regional disparities in Turkey. The main question is how these new policies can promote regional economic development in the country. Finally; this article aimed to examine the changing regional policies in Turkey, both previous and new policies have been discussed to determine their successes and weaknesses, and to offer a new policy framework for the regional development.

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Bottom-Up Approach ,

New Regional Development Policies ,

Regional Development Agencies. ,