Environmental concerns in Turkey: a comparative perspective

Abstract

The standard explanation for the rise of environmental issues on the public agenda is typically linked to rising ‘post-material values’ in the post-World War II era. The fact that environmental issues gained priority is deemed to be partially responsible for the rise of environmental movements and the ecological green parties in many Western European party systems. A similar development is expected from developing democracies, in particular, when their economic development reaches a stage where basic survival motivations leave their impact on mobilisation to post-materialist values that question and remain sceptical about economic development, especially when it touches upon environmental issues. As a result, modern democracies witness the rise of political movements that emphasise the need for environmental regulations that could impose limitations even on economic development objectives, should the accomplishment of these objectives require unsustainable environmental balances in certain localities or globally. These developments are relatively well-traced in the Western democracies. However, for developing democracies where neither the socio-economic dimension nor the political institutions are fully developed and functional, our knowledge remains limited.