Politics and Distributional Dynamics of Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Turkey

Conditional cash transfer programs were promoted by International Organization as the most efficient policy instrument for poverty alleviation with its focus on human capital development of children addressing inter generational transfer of poverty (Handa and Davis, 2006). The growing scholarly interest on the diffusion of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs (Ancelovici and Jenson, 2013; Fiszbein and Schady, 2009) orients researchers to concentrate on the national stories of this adoption process to understand the variation in the program design across cases. By focusing on the institutionalization of conditional cash transfer programs in Turkey since 2004, this research investigates the politics of CCT social assistance program examining how its design and its institutionalization were shaped by the vote seeking practices of the Justice and Development Party government (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi-AKP) (Aytac, 2013; Yoruk, 2012). This research will aim to understand the “translation” (Campbell, 2004) or the “vernacularization” (Levitt and Merry, 2009) of ideas and policy instruments  (Dobbin, Simmons and Garrett, 2007). There is an important role of domestic actors in the adaptation of policy ideas into domestic circumstances. Following the financial crisis in 2001, the CCT program was launched in Turkey within the scope of the Social Risk Mitigation Project initiated by the World Bank.  Although the financial assistance provided by the World Bank has been exhausted in 2006, AKP government has institutionalized this social assistance instrument. How can we explain the institutionalization of the CCT by the AKP government as an anti-poverty scheme? What are the implications of the CCT for the welfare and citizenship regime in Turkey considering regional, ethic and gender dimension of poverty in Turkey? This research suggests that CCT has been used to contain the Kurds in Southeastern regions of Turkey as well as to gather and increase votes in local elections by the AKP government.