Gradual Privatisation in Turkey and Slovenia: Under what conditions could gradual privatisation accelerate and under which conditions could it not?

Abstract

The privatisation programs in Turkey and Slovenia have experienced gradual progress for more than two decades. This occurred despite the international pressure and certain governments’ commitment to accelerating privatisation programs in both countries. Nonetheless, while Turkey expedited its privatisation program after 21 years, gradualism in Slovenia has been persisting. This thesis examines the factors that led to this puzzling outcome by using the theories of social constructivism and historical institutionalism. The analyses and the results, both of which have been reached through the process-tracing and the document-analysis methodologies, indicate that the social constructivist theory has more explanatory value. The incumbent Turkish governments’ successful socialisation with the privatisation norm and the absence of privatisation-related domestic reputational costs for this government accelerated the privatisation program. However, in Slovenia, both the unsocialised governments rejecting the privatisation norm and the domestic reputational costs emerging due to privatisation for these governments hindered the acceleration of privatisation.