Neoliberal Policies as the New Forms of Dependency: The Turkish Case

After 1980s, under the neoliberal regime, Turkish economy has been exposed to the instabilities, theaccompanying problems, and the risks of financial liberalization and deregulation. The motive behindfinancial liberalization was to restore growth and stability by raising saving rates and improving economicefficiency. However, just as in many experiences, a major consequence has been the exposure of the economyto speculative short-term capital movements (hot money); and this process resulted in serious financial crisesin 1994 and 2000/2001. Moreover, in post-financial crisis periods in many cases, FDI inflows –especiallymerger and acquisitions- to developing countries increased and this process ended up with dispossession,mostly due to the “fire sales”. The different modalities of FDI, greenfield investment and cross-bordermergers and acquisitions (M A) have different effects on the domestic economies, in terms of both netfinancial contribution and linkages with the host economy. Turkey has also experienced a similar process.The paper aims to examine capital movements and cross-border M As in the post-crises environment for theTurkish case.