A recycling story: Developing recycling behavior in Turkey with social marketing program

The present study focuses on improving recycling behavior in Turkey with a social marketing program. It is centered on behavior change and social marketing strategies that can address recycling behavior. The social marketing program developed herein outlines segmentation, targeting, product, price, place, and promotional strategies recommended based on theoretical elements across disciplines. This research is the first to develop a social marketing program for recycling behavior in a developing country at the household level. Furthermore, it is the first study in which behavioral change was ensured through marketing strategies. This article provides a framework that can be employed in developing social marketing programs. In this study, qualitative data collection tools and quantitative measurement data were used based on the action research design. Although there are studies in the literature that argue that women and those with undergraduate/graduate education show more recycling behavior than others, the results of the participant-level research in Turkey showed that there was no significant difference in recycling behavior based on the demographic characteristics of the participants. On the other hand, it has been found that the awareness levels of the people have changed in correspondence with the implementation-oriented efforts of the municipalities on recycling. However, there is a lack of recycling behavior due to the lack of necessary infrastructure and information in all regions in Turkey. One of the most important results obtained in this social marketing program study was that regional and cultural differences had a role in shaping the recycling behavior. This requires different strategies in implementing the program in different provinces, based on the culture and availability of recycling infrastructure. This article provides an example of a social marketing program to improve recycling behavior. It hopes to inspire significantly more work in this area to make behavior change for the better.     

Three-dimensional surface reconstruction for cartridge cases using photometric stereo

In forensic science, automated firearms identification is an important and yet unsolved problem. On the way to the solution, one of the most important phases is data acquisition. To be able to identify firearms in a reliable way, all the striated and impressed marks on metallic surfaces of cartridge cases should be visible. But two-dimensional images of cartridge cases are very sensitive to the type and direction of the light source(s). Depending on illumination conditions, the images of marks change drastically and sometimes they simply disappear. But, if the three-dimensional (3D) topography of the surface is obtained, the geometry of the marks, which is independent of the illumination, is available. Thus, by providing illumination independent features that can be used for automated matching, 3D data have the potential to make automated matching much reliable. In the literature on data acquisition for automated firearms identification, a few different ways of three-dimensional surface extraction are described, like laser interferometry or laser profilometry. This study presents a real life application of another method, photometric stereo, for the acquisition of 3D topographic data for cartridge cases, which is the one used in BALISTIKA Ballistics Image Analysis and Recognition System. In order to construct 3D topographic data, first of all, two-dimensional images were acquired using a specially designed set-up. After the images were calibrated radiometrically, photometric stereo method was applied. In order to minimize the low-frequency errors in the final surface, a surface-fitting algorithm was used. The method uses low-cost equipment and image acquisition is not time-consuming. Results were compared to interferometric measurement values for error assessment.     

Building a clean government in Turkey: pillars,perils, and prospects

Corruption is a serious and enduring problem in Turkey. As such, a series of sustained and synchronized actions are needed to promote integrity, and to prevent and punish corrupt practices in public life. In most recent years, subsequent cabinets have promulgated a set of laws, regulations, and measures in the name of fighting against corruption. Yet, building a clean government remains as a daunting, if not insurmountable, task for policy makers and the public at large in Turkey. The current paper begins with a brief introduction, summarizing the need for new, more effective anti-corruption policies and practices in the country. Then, it succinctly describes and assesses the main ‘pillars’ of the ‘national integrity system.’ The paper moves on to identify and evaluate the chief ‘perils,’ challenges and risks associated with efforts aiming to contribute to integrity, transparency and accountability in Turkish society. Finally, the paper discusses the ‘prospects’ for building a clean government in Turkey in the near future. Among the issues brought to the present debate are: the need for a credible commitment by the ruling elites for establishing a well-functioning integrity regime; effective coordination and collaboration among a wide range of institutional actors; developing a set of coherent principles and policies; and creating capacity to prevent, prosecute, and punish corrupt behaviors. It is also argued that building a clean government in Turkey requires a strong and sustainable coalition among the clean, the competent, and the competitive.

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Born Weak,Growing Strong: Anti‐Government Protests as a Signal of Rebel Strength in the Context of Civil Wars

All rebel organizations start weak, but how do they grow and achieve favorable conflict outcomes? We present a theoretical model that allows for rebel organizations to gain support beyond their “core” and build their bargaining power during fighting. We highlight that rebel organizations need to win over crucial parts of society to generate the necessary support that allows them to attain favorable civil conflict outcomes. We find empirical support for the argument that low‐income individuals who initially fight the government (rebel organizations) have to convince middle‐class individuals to turn out against the government to gain government concessions. Empirically, we demonstrate that government concessions in the form of peace agreements and the onset of negotiations become more likely when protest occurs in the context of civil conflicts.

Replication Materials

The data, code, and any additional materials required to replicate all analyses in this article are available on the American Journal of Political Science Dataverse within the Harvard Dataverse Network, at: http://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/MYDZNF .

     

Enforcement Process Tracing: Forbearance and Dilution in Urban Colombia and Turkey

Cities are complex regulatory environments. Attempts to regulate urban behavior create opportunities for politicians to manipulate enforcement to win votes and reward supporters. While some politicians choose not to enforce regulations, or forbearance, others undercut their intent, or dilution. Empirical research on enforcement has lagged behind due to the identification challenges in distinguishing weak state capacity from political manipulations. We develop a structured approach to process tracing that follows enforcement decisions sequentially across bureaucracies and specifies statistical distributions as counterfactuals to identify the causes of limited enforcement. We illustrate these strategies through original data on enforcement against squatters in urban Colombia and the provision of building permits in urban Turkey. Enforcement process tracing helps to document a form of distributive politics that is common to cities in the developing world.     

Land grabs and primitive accumulation in deltaic Bangladesh: interactions between neoliberal globalization,state interventions,power relations and peasant resistance

This essay provides theoretical and empirical analysis of the interrelationships between land grabs, primitive accumulation and accumulation by dispossession (ABD) in the context of capitalist development. Evidence from a multi-class peasant formation in deltaic Bangladesh indicates that land grabs have been propelled by interactions between neoliberal globalization, state interventions, power relations and peasant resistance. Key roles have been played by illegal violence and de-linking of poor peasants from production organization and clientelist relations providing access to land. Establishment of a shrimp zone for export production has led to systematic eviction of the poor, backed by state power. Poor peasant resistance has shifted towards overt forms involving coalition-building and collective action. It is argued that the concept of primitive accumulation can subsume both market and non-market mechanisms as well as voluntary and involuntary transactions involving different degrees of intentionality, inclusive of deliberate dispossession, unintended consequences and negative externalities. Primitive accumulation and ABD correspond to distinct historical phases of capitalism and are subsumable under a generic concept of ongoing capitalism-facilitating accumulation. The dynamics of ‘actually existing capitalism’ display a two-way and recursive causal relationship in which continuing primitive accumulation is as much a consequence of expanding capitalist production as its precondition.     

hope with qualms: a feminist analysis of the 2013 Gezi protests

In this article, I argue for the distinctness of the 2013 Gezi uprisings from other anti-austerity protests. With a materialist feminist eye on the third-term AKP government’s conservative authoritarianism, I explore the causal links among patriarchal, racist biopolitics, heteronormative family values and increasing austerity measures. My broader analytical goal is to demonstrate the centrality of moral politics to uneven, security-based neoliberal regulations across markets, public spaces, and civic expression in and beyond Turkey. Second, I zoom in on the mothers’ rallies and gendered, ethnic acts of mourning to analyse the performative constitution of multiple publics during the protests. What exclusions have the participants produced in the name of inclusion? How can a performance paradigm help us understand the contradictory uses of space among and against the protestors, and more broadly, the relevance of embodied dissent to different visions of social justice? To deepen our intersectional feminist analysis, I suggest taking performances seriously, from human chains to soundscapes of resistance, stillness, and brutality; and from eclectic dance forms to architectural disruptions. Attending to the uprisings’ fault-lines and radical contributions, I also caution against ‘romancing resistance’. Hope with qualms is what remains.     

Indirect Rule and Varieties of Governance

This article reexamines the venerable concept of indirect rule. We argue, drawing on evidence from colonial and postcolonial South Asia, that indirect rule actually represented a diverse set of governance forms that need to be clearly distinguished. Using a new typology of varieties of governance, we show that colonial governments established suzerain, hybrid, and de jure governance, in addition to direct rule across territories, based on the incentives and constraints of the state. The repertoire of governance forms narrowed and changed but did not disappear during decolonization, showing that the postcolonial state had powerful reasons to maintain forms of heterodox governance. Dramatic shifts, alongside enduring continuity, challenge a simple narrative of path dependence and the adherence to tradition, instead showing that governments have made conscious choices about how to govern. We conclude by discussing the implications of these arguments for broader understandings of state power.