Reflexivity, Integration and Autonomy in Regional Development: Turkey - Eu Partnership

Abstract

Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of field, capital, and habitus and the literature on development, I analyse how positions and autonomies of various actors as well as their interaction and management styles affect each other and the success of a regional development programme implemented in Turkey with EU assistance. Discrepancies between form and content or rhetoric and practice open up opportunities for change. I conclude that the reflexivity of actors with a critical ethical perspective enables them to use these discrepancies with integrating interaction and open management styles for sustainable interventions. These qualities are related to the level of autonomy of individual and collective actors.