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Firat Cengiz

University of Liverpool, Liverpool Law School, Faculty Member

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I am a senior lecturer in law at the School of Law and Social Justice of the University of Liverpool. In past I worked, studied and researched at the University of East Anglia Centre for Competition Policy, Georgetown University Law Centre, European University Institute and Tilburg Law and Economics Center.

I spend my days thinking about questions of citizenship and equality in capitalist democracies. I write and publish research among others on questions of democracy in the EU, competition policy and citizenship in the EU and the US, gender equality and Turkey -EU relations particularly from a Kurdish human rights perspective. I teach, among others, EU law, law and economics, competition law and law and gender.
Phone: 00441517942814

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Books by Firat Cengiz

Gendering the EU Budget: Can European Parliament Play the Role of a Gender-Budgeting Advocate?

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices, 2019

The chapter critically investigates whether the European Parliament, as the official representati... more

Turkey and the European Union: Facing New Challenges and Opportunities

Turkey-EU relations are currently in a state of flux. Turkey and the EU have moved apart in their... more Turkey-EU relations are currently in a state of flux. Turkey and the EU have moved apart in their political aspirations after accession talks faced a stalemate due to the Republic of Cyprus’ EU accession as a divided island. The EU has been shaken to its very core by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and as a result the enlargement of the EU has dropped down the agenda. In contrast Turkey has become an economic powerhouse in an extremely volatile region. The Turkish government has been following a consistent policy of establishing itself as the leader in its region and as a result a significant part of the Turkish population no longer sees EU accession as the only option to secure long-term economic growth and political stability.

The book explores the current challenges as well as opportunities facing the Turkey-EU relations, questioning the existing models in light of recent developments. The book is interdisciplinary in nature bringing together perspectives from the disciplines of international relations, political science and law.

The book analyses current shifts in the dynamics of Turkey-EU relations in order to surmise what the future of this relationship might hold. The book focuses on four main themes: the effect of the Cyprus conflict; the potential for a structured Turkey-EU cooperation particularly with regard to the Middle Eastern region in the wake of the Arab Spring; the future of democratic reform in Turkey under fading EU influence; and finally, the changing role of Europe in Turkish political discourse as well as the daily lives of Turkish citizens.

Antitrust Federalism in the EU and the US

The EU and the US are the preeminent examples of multi-level polities and both have highly develo... more The EU and the US are the preeminent examples of multi-level polities and both have highly developed competition policies. Despite these similarities however, recent developments suggest that they are moving in different directions in the area of antitrust federalism. This book examines multi-level governance in competition policy from a comparative perspective. The book analyses how competition laws and authorities of different levels - the federal and the state levels in the US and the national and the supranational levels in the EU - interact with each other. Inspired by the increasingly divergent policy developments taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, the author asks whether the EU and the US can draw policy lessons from each other’s experiences in antitrust federalism. Antitrust Federalism in the EU and the US reveals the similarities and differences between the European and American models of antitrust federalism whilst employing policy network models in its comparative analysis of issues such as opacity and accountability in networks. The book is essentially multidisciplinary in its effort to initiate dialogue between the Law and Political Science literatures in this field. This book will be of particular interest to academics, students and practitioners of Competition Law, Constitutional Law and Political Science.

Papers by Firat Cengiz

The conflict between market competition and worker solidarity: moving from consumer to a citizen welfare standard in competition law

Legal Studies, 2020

This paper critically investigates the law and economics of competition law enforcement in confli... more This paper critically investigates the law and economics of competition law enforcement in conflicts between workers and employers in the EU and the US. The conflict between worker solidarity and market competition attracts significant public attention due to the legal conundrum facing precariously employed gig workers. This paper reveals that in light of the strict consumer welfare standard underlying competition rules, competition law has become an overall disciplining mechanism impeding collective worker action beyond the limited case of the gig economy. Using a holistic theoretical framework comprising of neoclassical and Marxist exploitation theories, the paper shows that sound economic analysis justifies resolving the competition-solidarity conflict in favour of solidarity. After showing that the consumer welfare standard overlooks the idiosyncratic qualities of labour as a 'fictitious' commodity, the paper offers an original and inclusive 'citizen welfare' standard that takes into consideration how anti-competitive behaviour affects workers as well as consumers. As a result, the paper also contributes to the post-2008 debate on whether and how competition law could contribute to equality by shedding light on competition law's treatment of workers and their welfare.

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices Edited by

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices, 2019

This chapter critically investigates whether the European Parliament, as the representative of ci... more

Gender responsive EU Budgeting Update of the study 'The EU Budget for Gender Equality' and review of its conclusions and recommendations Budgetary Affairs Policy Department D for Budgetary Affairs

This Study updates the 2015 Study entitled ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’. It investigates w... more This Study updates the 2015 Study entitled ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’. It investigates whether, and to what extent, progress has been made in gender budgeting in the EU since the publication of the 2015 Study, particularly in the light of the European Parliament’s 2017 Resolution entitled ‘EU Funds for Gender Equality’. Based on desk-based and empirical research, this Study finds that the absence of overall and consistent commitment to gender equality in the EU budget and the budgetary process continues. As a result, the Study calls on the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to take legislative action to anchor gender equality to all policies that receive funding from the EU budget.

Bringing the citizen back into EU democracy: against the input-output model and why deliberative democracy might be the answer

This article asks what role deliberative democracy could play in democratising the EU. Whilst sea... more This article asks what role deliberative democracy could play in
democratising the EU. Whilst searching for an answer to this
question, the article aims to contribute to the post-2008 financial
and economic crisis EU democracy debate with a substantial
rethinking of the EU-citizen relationship. The article is also critical
of the existing democracy models, and in particular the inputoutput
model, that treats citizens’ participation in policymaking
(input) and policies’ effects on citizens (output) as separate
phenomena. The article aims to contribute to the emergence of a
collaborative research agenda between the EU and deliberative
democracy scholarships with a view to improving citizen
participation in EU policymaking in the light of deliberative
democracy. Using the European Commission’s consultation regime
as an empirical example, the article shows that it is indeed
possible to implement deliberative democracy in the EU.

An Academic View on the Role and Powers of National Competition Authorities

This study provides background on the ‘ECN plus project’ by describing the European Competition N... more This study provides background on the ‘ECN plus project’ by describing the European Competition Network (ECN) and the role of National Competition Authorities (NCAs). It investigates the decentralisation of the enforcement of EU competition rules and the structure and the cooperation mechanisms of the ECN as well as the experiences with decentralised enforcement and the ECN during the last decade. The ECN has functioned largely successfully as a platform for NCAs' cooperation and the voluntary harmonisation of national procedural rules. However, national regimes still differ in certain aspects, particularly in Member States that follow the judicial enforcement model and/or that impose criminal remedies on breaches of competition rules. This study was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON Committee.

Legitimacy and Multi-Level Governance in European Union Competition Law: A Deliberative Discursive Approach

Union competition law protects ‘consumer welfare’, but what role do consumers play in competition... more Union competition law protects ‘consumer welfare’, but what role do consumers play in competition policy-making? This is the question that this article seeks to answer. In the search for an answer, the article investigates the moral (output) and procedural (input) legitimacy of the recent competition law reforms. Following a discursive approach, the article looks into the roles played by institutions deliberating for citizens (consumer organizations, European Parliament and the
Union Courts) in the reform process. This inquiry results in the questioning of the reforms’ legitimacy, and it also leads to broader conclusions regarding the legitimacy of multi-level governance: expert discourses overshadow potential deliberative qualities of networks, which exacerbates networks’
legitimacy problems. Also, the input/output legitimacy dichotomy appears problematic, as expert policy-making in the absence of citizen participation does not guarantee policies resonating with public interest.

EU Budget for Gender Equality

This study subjects the EU budget to a gender budgeting analysis revealing revenue and spending d... more This study subjects the EU budget to a gender budgeting analysis revealing revenue and spending decisions’ impacts on gender equality. It covers the operational expenditure of six selected policy areas, in an attempt to pave the way for further, more comprehensive analysis. The authors adopt the capability approach, based on a broad definition of human wellbeing, following bottom-up logic. The analysis leads to the following conclusions:
 Many titles of the EU budget do not follow the EU’s high level commitment to gender equality and gender mainstreaming;
 The EU budget is not entirely transparent, since the amounts allocated to different policy objectives and actions are not always specified;
 Finally, specific gender indicators and gender-disaggregated data are not systematically used in the monitoring and evaluation of different actions that are funded by the budget.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING, GENDER BUDGETING, AND MONITORING IN POST 2015 GENDER EQUALITY POLICY

Upon request by the FEMM Committee of the European Parliament, this report investigates the role ... more

The Future of Democratic Reform in Turkey: Constitutional Moment or Constitutional Process?

Turkey is undergoing the most substantial constitutional reform process in its history, at the sa... more Turkey is undergoing the most substantial constitutional reform process in its history, at the same time as carrying out significant peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. These two processes will have profound effects on the country’s future governance. Most importantly, the processes could contribute to bridging gaps in Turkey’s polarized society. As the processes take place in secret, their substantive contents are currently unknown. This article provides a critical analysis of the processes in the light of the new theory of constitutionalism, paying particular attention to the changing role of the European Union in Turkey’s reform discussions. This analysis leads to some sceptical conclusions: given the secrecy, exclusiveness and political hostility surrounding the processes, it seems that they are unlikely to achieve their potential. In addition, despite its contradictions, the weakening of European Union conditionality appears to have negatively affected the reform process.

Network Governance in European Competition Law Post-Financial Crisis: what impact on legitimacy?

This paper looks into the legitimacy of network governance in European Union competition policy a... more This paper looks into the legitimacy of network governance in European Union competition policy after the financial crisis. The financial crisis has further decreased the deficient citizen trust in the Union’s governance, thus, exacerbated the Union’s notorious legitimacy deficit. Under the shadow of this citizen distrust, proponents of neo-liberal network governance can no longer rely on output legitimacy arguments. If achieving an ‘ever closer Union between the people’s of Europe’ is to stay as a viable aim for the Union, citizens need to be firmly anchored to policies that affect their daily lives substantially. Looking at Union competition policy from this perspective the paper leads to sceptical conclusions: the recent reforms have oriented Union competition rules towards a more neo-liberal economic approach without sufficient input from Union political institutions and citizens. Likewise, increased reliance on economic and econometric analysis renders the competition law discourse highly technical. This results in exclusivity in governance at the expense of the participation of political institutions, organisations representing consumer interests and ultimately citizens.

Rethinking Conditionality: Gender Equality and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey’s EU Accession Framework

This chapter looks at Turkey’s reform processes in gender equality and the Kurdish issue in the l... more This chapter looks at Turkey’s reform processes in gender equality and the Kurdish issue in the light of its ambition to join the European Union. The analysis of the chapter leads to broader conclusions regarding EU’s ability of improving gender equality and minority rights in candidate countries: firstly, the extensiveness of EU’s internal legal framework does not play a visible role on the reform processes in the candidate countries. Secondly, the EU takes a functional rather than a normative approach towards these issues in accession frameworks. Most notably, the EU does not directly address intersecting inequalities. Finally, conditionality alone fails to fully explain the reform processes, as domestic cost-benefit structures in candidate countries offer alternative explanations.

Rethinking Conditionality: Turkey's EU Accession and the Kurdish Question

Journal of Common Market Studies, Jan 5, 2013

This article assesses the recent developments in the Turkish democratic reform processes, particu... more This article assesses the recent developments in the Turkish democratic reform processes, particularly those affecting the Kurdish minority, induced by Turkey's ambition to accede to the European Union (EU). The analysis is rooted in the Europeanization literature, specifically the external incentives model. In addition to providing a systematic review of recent political developments in this area, the analysis leads us to question some of the model's basic premises. Most notably, it is found that credible EU commitment, rather than low adoption costs and weak veto players, has constituted a necessary and sufficient condition for the reform process. Likewise, there is a dynamic relationship between EU-induced democratic reforms and adoption costs that is largely overlooked in the existing literature.

Rethinking Conditionality: Turkey’s EU Accession and the Kurdish Question

In this paper we look at the Turkish reform process with regard to the Kurdish minority from the ... more In this paper we look at the Turkish reform process with regard to the Kurdish minority from the perspective of Europeanization and in the light of the external incentives model. As a result, the paper provides a systematic analysis of recent political developments in this area. Additionally, our analysis leads to the questioning of some basic premises of the external incentives model. Most notably in this specific case we find that credible EU commitment, rather than low adoption costs and weak veto players, has constituted a necessary and sufficient condition for the reform process. Likewise, we find a dynamic relationship between EU induced democratic reforms and adoption costs that is largely overlooked in the model.

Turkey's 1980 coup lives on its legal system

The 2011 General Elections in Turkey: Potential Implications on Domestic and International Politics in the Shadow of a Discourse Change?

On 12 June 2011, Turkey held its general elections. The government AK Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma P... more On 12 June 2011, Turkey held its general elections. The government AK Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) was able to maintain its absolute majority and win a third consecutive term in office. This article assesses the key issues of the previous parliamentary term, examines the 2011 election campaign and provides an outlook on the key issues that Turkey and its government are facing post elections. This includes an explanation of the controversy about some parliamentarians who were elected whilst under arrest or being subject to criminal proceedings. Other than that, our analysis focuses particularly on previous and planned constitutional reforms, developments in the area of freedom of expression and Turkey -European Union relations.

Turkey after the elections: internal and external expectations

Parliamentary crisis: imprisoned politicians in Turkey

There are deep divisions between the political forces in the new parliament that are not being wo... more

Gendering the EU Budget: Can European Parliament Play the Role of a Gender-Budgeting Advocate?

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices, 2019

The chapter critically investigates whether the European Parliament, as the official representati... more

Turkey and the European Union: Facing New Challenges and Opportunities

Turkey-EU relations are currently in a state of flux. Turkey and the EU have moved apart in their... more Turkey-EU relations are currently in a state of flux. Turkey and the EU have moved apart in their political aspirations after accession talks faced a stalemate due to the Republic of Cyprus’ EU accession as a divided island. The EU has been shaken to its very core by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and as a result the enlargement of the EU has dropped down the agenda. In contrast Turkey has become an economic powerhouse in an extremely volatile region. The Turkish government has been following a consistent policy of establishing itself as the leader in its region and as a result a significant part of the Turkish population no longer sees EU accession as the only option to secure long-term economic growth and political stability.

The book explores the current challenges as well as opportunities facing the Turkey-EU relations, questioning the existing models in light of recent developments. The book is interdisciplinary in nature bringing together perspectives from the disciplines of international relations, political science and law.

The book analyses current shifts in the dynamics of Turkey-EU relations in order to surmise what the future of this relationship might hold. The book focuses on four main themes: the effect of the Cyprus conflict; the potential for a structured Turkey-EU cooperation particularly with regard to the Middle Eastern region in the wake of the Arab Spring; the future of democratic reform in Turkey under fading EU influence; and finally, the changing role of Europe in Turkish political discourse as well as the daily lives of Turkish citizens.

Antitrust Federalism in the EU and the US

The EU and the US are the preeminent examples of multi-level polities and both have highly develo... more The EU and the US are the preeminent examples of multi-level polities and both have highly developed competition policies. Despite these similarities however, recent developments suggest that they are moving in different directions in the area of antitrust federalism. This book examines multi-level governance in competition policy from a comparative perspective. The book analyses how competition laws and authorities of different levels - the federal and the state levels in the US and the national and the supranational levels in the EU - interact with each other. Inspired by the increasingly divergent policy developments taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, the author asks whether the EU and the US can draw policy lessons from each other’s experiences in antitrust federalism. Antitrust Federalism in the EU and the US reveals the similarities and differences between the European and American models of antitrust federalism whilst employing policy network models in its comparative analysis of issues such as opacity and accountability in networks. The book is essentially multidisciplinary in its effort to initiate dialogue between the Law and Political Science literatures in this field. This book will be of particular interest to academics, students and practitioners of Competition Law, Constitutional Law and Political Science.

The conflict between market competition and worker solidarity: moving from consumer to a citizen welfare standard in competition law

Legal Studies, 2020

This paper critically investigates the law and economics of competition law enforcement in confli... more This paper critically investigates the law and economics of competition law enforcement in conflicts between workers and employers in the EU and the US. The conflict between worker solidarity and market competition attracts significant public attention due to the legal conundrum facing precariously employed gig workers. This paper reveals that in light of the strict consumer welfare standard underlying competition rules, competition law has become an overall disciplining mechanism impeding collective worker action beyond the limited case of the gig economy. Using a holistic theoretical framework comprising of neoclassical and Marxist exploitation theories, the paper shows that sound economic analysis justifies resolving the competition-solidarity conflict in favour of solidarity. After showing that the consumer welfare standard overlooks the idiosyncratic qualities of labour as a 'fictitious' commodity, the paper offers an original and inclusive 'citizen welfare' standard that takes into consideration how anti-competitive behaviour affects workers as well as consumers. As a result, the paper also contributes to the post-2008 debate on whether and how competition law could contribute to equality by shedding light on competition law's treatment of workers and their welfare.

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices Edited by

Gendering the European Parliament Structures, Policies, and Practices, 2019

This chapter critically investigates whether the European Parliament, as the representative of ci... more

Gender responsive EU Budgeting Update of the study 'The EU Budget for Gender Equality' and review of its conclusions and recommendations Budgetary Affairs Policy Department D for Budgetary Affairs

This Study updates the 2015 Study entitled ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’. It investigates w... more This Study updates the 2015 Study entitled ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’. It investigates whether, and to what extent, progress has been made in gender budgeting in the EU since the publication of the 2015 Study, particularly in the light of the European Parliament’s 2017 Resolution entitled ‘EU Funds for Gender Equality’. Based on desk-based and empirical research, this Study finds that the absence of overall and consistent commitment to gender equality in the EU budget and the budgetary process continues. As a result, the Study calls on the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to take legislative action to anchor gender equality to all policies that receive funding from the EU budget.

Bringing the citizen back into EU democracy: against the input-output model and why deliberative democracy might be the answer

This article asks what role deliberative democracy could play in democratising the EU. Whilst sea... more This article asks what role deliberative democracy could play in
democratising the EU. Whilst searching for an answer to this
question, the article aims to contribute to the post-2008 financial
and economic crisis EU democracy debate with a substantial
rethinking of the EU-citizen relationship. The article is also critical
of the existing democracy models, and in particular the inputoutput
model, that treats citizens’ participation in policymaking
(input) and policies’ effects on citizens (output) as separate
phenomena. The article aims to contribute to the emergence of a
collaborative research agenda between the EU and deliberative
democracy scholarships with a view to improving citizen
participation in EU policymaking in the light of deliberative
democracy. Using the European Commission’s consultation regime
as an empirical example, the article shows that it is indeed
possible to implement deliberative democracy in the EU.

An Academic View on the Role and Powers of National Competition Authorities

This study provides background on the ‘ECN plus project’ by describing the European Competition N... more This study provides background on the ‘ECN plus project’ by describing the European Competition Network (ECN) and the role of National Competition Authorities (NCAs). It investigates the decentralisation of the enforcement of EU competition rules and the structure and the cooperation mechanisms of the ECN as well as the experiences with decentralised enforcement and the ECN during the last decade. The ECN has functioned largely successfully as a platform for NCAs' cooperation and the voluntary harmonisation of national procedural rules. However, national regimes still differ in certain aspects, particularly in Member States that follow the judicial enforcement model and/or that impose criminal remedies on breaches of competition rules. This study was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON Committee.

Legitimacy and Multi-Level Governance in European Union Competition Law: A Deliberative Discursive Approach

Union competition law protects ‘consumer welfare’, but what role do consumers play in competition... more Union competition law protects ‘consumer welfare’, but what role do consumers play in competition policy-making? This is the question that this article seeks to answer. In the search for an answer, the article investigates the moral (output) and procedural (input) legitimacy of the recent competition law reforms. Following a discursive approach, the article looks into the roles played by institutions deliberating for citizens (consumer organizations, European Parliament and the
Union Courts) in the reform process. This inquiry results in the questioning of the reforms’ legitimacy, and it also leads to broader conclusions regarding the legitimacy of multi-level governance: expert discourses overshadow potential deliberative qualities of networks, which exacerbates networks’
legitimacy problems. Also, the input/output legitimacy dichotomy appears problematic, as expert policy-making in the absence of citizen participation does not guarantee policies resonating with public interest.

EU Budget for Gender Equality

This study subjects the EU budget to a gender budgeting analysis revealing revenue and spending d... more This study subjects the EU budget to a gender budgeting analysis revealing revenue and spending decisions’ impacts on gender equality. It covers the operational expenditure of six selected policy areas, in an attempt to pave the way for further, more comprehensive analysis. The authors adopt the capability approach, based on a broad definition of human wellbeing, following bottom-up logic. The analysis leads to the following conclusions:
 Many titles of the EU budget do not follow the EU’s high level commitment to gender equality and gender mainstreaming;
 The EU budget is not entirely transparent, since the amounts allocated to different policy objectives and actions are not always specified;
 Finally, specific gender indicators and gender-disaggregated data are not systematically used in the monitoring and evaluation of different actions that are funded by the budget.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING, GENDER BUDGETING, AND MONITORING IN POST 2015 GENDER EQUALITY POLICY

Upon request by the FEMM Committee of the European Parliament, this report investigates the role ... more

The Future of Democratic Reform in Turkey: Constitutional Moment or Constitutional Process?

Turkey is undergoing the most substantial constitutional reform process in its history, at the sa... more Turkey is undergoing the most substantial constitutional reform process in its history, at the same time as carrying out significant peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. These two processes will have profound effects on the country’s future governance. Most importantly, the processes could contribute to bridging gaps in Turkey’s polarized society. As the processes take place in secret, their substantive contents are currently unknown. This article provides a critical analysis of the processes in the light of the new theory of constitutionalism, paying particular attention to the changing role of the European Union in Turkey’s reform discussions. This analysis leads to some sceptical conclusions: given the secrecy, exclusiveness and political hostility surrounding the processes, it seems that they are unlikely to achieve their potential. In addition, despite its contradictions, the weakening of European Union conditionality appears to have negatively affected the reform process.

Network Governance in European Competition Law Post-Financial Crisis: what impact on legitimacy?

This paper looks into the legitimacy of network governance in European Union competition policy a... more This paper looks into the legitimacy of network governance in European Union competition policy after the financial crisis. The financial crisis has further decreased the deficient citizen trust in the Union’s governance, thus, exacerbated the Union’s notorious legitimacy deficit. Under the shadow of this citizen distrust, proponents of neo-liberal network governance can no longer rely on output legitimacy arguments. If achieving an ‘ever closer Union between the people’s of Europe’ is to stay as a viable aim for the Union, citizens need to be firmly anchored to policies that affect their daily lives substantially. Looking at Union competition policy from this perspective the paper leads to sceptical conclusions: the recent reforms have oriented Union competition rules towards a more neo-liberal economic approach without sufficient input from Union political institutions and citizens. Likewise, increased reliance on economic and econometric analysis renders the competition law discourse highly technical. This results in exclusivity in governance at the expense of the participation of political institutions, organisations representing consumer interests and ultimately citizens.

Rethinking Conditionality: Gender Equality and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey’s EU Accession Framework

This chapter looks at Turkey’s reform processes in gender equality and the Kurdish issue in the l... more This chapter looks at Turkey’s reform processes in gender equality and the Kurdish issue in the light of its ambition to join the European Union. The analysis of the chapter leads to broader conclusions regarding EU’s ability of improving gender equality and minority rights in candidate countries: firstly, the extensiveness of EU’s internal legal framework does not play a visible role on the reform processes in the candidate countries. Secondly, the EU takes a functional rather than a normative approach towards these issues in accession frameworks. Most notably, the EU does not directly address intersecting inequalities. Finally, conditionality alone fails to fully explain the reform processes, as domestic cost-benefit structures in candidate countries offer alternative explanations.

Rethinking Conditionality: Turkey's EU Accession and the Kurdish Question

Journal of Common Market Studies, Jan 5, 2013

This article assesses the recent developments in the Turkish democratic reform processes, particu... more This article assesses the recent developments in the Turkish democratic reform processes, particularly those affecting the Kurdish minority, induced by Turkey's ambition to accede to the European Union (EU). The analysis is rooted in the Europeanization literature, specifically the external incentives model. In addition to providing a systematic review of recent political developments in this area, the analysis leads us to question some of the model's basic premises. Most notably, it is found that credible EU commitment, rather than low adoption costs and weak veto players, has constituted a necessary and sufficient condition for the reform process. Likewise, there is a dynamic relationship between EU-induced democratic reforms and adoption costs that is largely overlooked in the existing literature.

Rethinking Conditionality: Turkey’s EU Accession and the Kurdish Question

In this paper we look at the Turkish reform process with regard to the Kurdish minority from the ... more In this paper we look at the Turkish reform process with regard to the Kurdish minority from the perspective of Europeanization and in the light of the external incentives model. As a result, the paper provides a systematic analysis of recent political developments in this area. Additionally, our analysis leads to the questioning of some basic premises of the external incentives model. Most notably in this specific case we find that credible EU commitment, rather than low adoption costs and weak veto players, has constituted a necessary and sufficient condition for the reform process. Likewise, we find a dynamic relationship between EU induced democratic reforms and adoption costs that is largely overlooked in the model.

Turkey's 1980 coup lives on its legal system

The 2011 General Elections in Turkey: Potential Implications on Domestic and International Politics in the Shadow of a Discourse Change?

On 12 June 2011, Turkey held its general elections. The government AK Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma P... more On 12 June 2011, Turkey held its general elections. The government AK Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) was able to maintain its absolute majority and win a third consecutive term in office. This article assesses the key issues of the previous parliamentary term, examines the 2011 election campaign and provides an outlook on the key issues that Turkey and its government are facing post elections. This includes an explanation of the controversy about some parliamentarians who were elected whilst under arrest or being subject to criminal proceedings. Other than that, our analysis focuses particularly on previous and planned constitutional reforms, developments in the area of freedom of expression and Turkey -European Union relations.

Turkey after the elections: internal and external expectations

Parliamentary crisis: imprisoned politicians in Turkey

There are deep divisions between the political forces in the new parliament that are not being wo... more

The 2011 Turkish elections and the prospects for Turkey-EU relations

Turkey's recent elections have created a more open-minded parliament. For the country's future to... more Turkey's recent elections have created a more open-minded parliament. For the country's future to reflect this change, both sceptical EU member states and the new Turkish government must focus on renewing the process of Turkish accession to the EU, considering the country's economic and regional political weight and the growing number of Turks that reject future EU membership

JUDICIAL REVIEW AND THE RULE OF LAW IN THE EU COMPETITION LAW REGIME AFTER ALROSA

Multi-Level Governance In Competition Policy: the European Competition Network

European law review, Jan 1, 2010

Anchoring the Consumer: Legitimacy and Accountability in Competition Law

The international financial crisis exacerbated the European Union’s already notorious democratic ... more The international financial crisis exacerbated the European Union’s already notorious democratic deficit: according to the Eurobarometer 57 per cent of citizens trusted the Union before 2008, whereas this figure reduced to 31 per cent in 2013. This citizen distrust increasingly jeopardises the objective of ‘creating an ever closer Union between the peoples of Europe’. Under the shadow of the economic crisis, one strategy appears particularly likely to improve the Union’s deteriorating image: anchoring citizens to Union policies that affect their lives substantially and positively. In the light of this premise, the current reforms of European competition rules appear problematic: the reforms oriented the competition rules towards a neo-liberal economic approach with only limited contribution of the consumers and organisations representing them to the reform process.

This project looks into the role consumers play in the making of competition policies in the EU and US. The tensions raised by the international financial crisis provide the main narrative of the project. The project is sponsored by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Career Integration Grants. In addition to comparative methodology, the project relies on interdisciplinary methods: the political science literature and political theory of accountability and legitimacy provide the project’s main framework. In this sense, the project connects competition law to the general debate on governance and democracy. The project also relies on empirical methods in its analysis of the role played by consumer organisations and parliaments in the making of competition rules.

The project commenced on 1 November 2013 and will last until November 2017. It will result in the publication of scholarly as well as popular publications. Each year a Marie Curie workshop will be organised in Liverpool under the sponsorship of the project. The first workshop will take place on 19 March 2014 with the theme 'Post-Financial Crisis Governance in Europe: Legitimacy, Democracy and Competition'. For more information please check the events page .

For more information check the project website at http://www.liv.ac.uk/law/research/marie-curie-project-on-governance-in-competition-law/