Explaining the Stages for Subnational Mobilization Across the European Union Arena: The EU Activities of Turkish Cities

  • Abstract:

    European Union activities at subnational level have been analyzed under the heading of subnational mobilisation. Such a definition refers to the growing engagement of subnational governmental actors with the institutions and process of EU policymaking. Yet, the subnational mobilisation literature generally tends to focus on the activities beyond the national context, particularly the activities of subnational administrations in Brussels through their established liaison offices, in order to demonstrate subnational mobilisation. This paper does not restrict itself to the liaison offices in Brussels to reveal whether there is subnational mobilisation or not. It conversely includes other EU-related activities, which may support the mobilisation of SNAs (e.g. applying EU fund programs, changes in organizational arrangements, transnational activities and vertical channels). Drawing insights from Peter John’s (2001) ‘Ladder Model for Europeanization of Governance’, the four stages for subnational mobilisation are proposed. According to this, what happens in an SNA between the input of an EU stimulus and an output that encourages mobilisation may be described in four stages: growing awareness at local level; changes in organizational arrangements; engagement with transnational activities with their equivalent in the EU; and conducting EU level activities through vertical mobilization. Taking into account these stages, this paper will evaluate three case cities of Turkey (İzmir, Samsun and Diyarbakır) in order to capture the degree of Europeanization on different Turkish cities.