German Influence on Turkish Economic Thought and Policy in the 19th and 20th Centuries

This international workshop follows the traces of German influence on Turkish economic thought and policy in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the one-way flow of economic knowledge from Germany to Turkey. The research will benefit scholars of the history of economic thought and economic history, since it will provide an example of heterodox continental influence on economic thought and policy, before Anglo-American mainstream economics almost entirely dominated economics as a social science after the Second World War.

Scholars from Turkey and Germany will present findings of their research on various aspects, such as early influences from German refugee economists, the Asiatic mode of production, German soft power in Turkey in the interwar era, and the role of the journal “Kadro” in forming and reforming economic thinking.

The workshop is organised by Mustafa Erdem Özgür, professor of economics from Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir (Turkey), who is currently a Senior Fellow at the College, and Jakob Kapeller, professor for socio-economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Registration

Please register by 18 June for on-site or digital participation.

registration

Location

The hybrid workshop will take place at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities, online participation is possible via Zoom (the access link will be sent to registered participants).

Programme

20 June 2024

10:00–10:15 – Introduction
Jakob Kapeller & M. Erdem Özgür

10:15–10:45 – The Effect of Cameralism on Ottoman Economic Thought Revisited
Mesut Sert | Hakkari University

10:45–11:15 – Reevaluating Human Capital in Turkish Economic Thought: Another Instance of German Influence
Erkan Gurpinar | Social Sciences University of Ankara

11:15–11:45 – Kadro’s Conception of the Role of the State, and its Position on Reforming Economics Education Disentangling the Staatswissenschaften and Historismus Effects
Eyüp Özveren | Middle East Technical University, Ankara

13:00–13:30 – German Economists in Turkey
Hakkı Bilen | Independent Researcher

13:30–14:00 – German Refugee Economists and the Birth of Turkish Economic Thought: A Study of Early Influences and Contributions
Merve Kılıçkan | University of Kassel, International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER)

14:00–14:30 – Divitçioğlu, Wittfogel, and the Asiatic Mode of Production Revisited
Altug Yalcintas | Ankara University

download presentation abstracts (day 1) [PDF]

^{Please note: The texts are protected under copyright - any form of distribution or use, also in parts, is not allowed without prior permission.}

21 June 2024

10:00–10:30 – How Asiatic Mode of Production Was Discussed in Turkey?
Alp Yücel Kaya | Ege University, Izmir

10:30–11:00 – Agrarian Populism as an Ideological Discourse in Interwar Europe: Reflections from the German and Turkish Experiences
Asım Karaömerlioğlu | Bogazici University, Istanbul

11:00–11:30 – German Soft Power in Turkey in the Interwar Era 1919-1939
Mert Dogukan Perk | Independent Researcher

13:00–13:30 – German Influence on the Turkish Business Institutions
Seven Agir | Middle East Technical University, Ankara

13:30–14:00 – The signature of the German-Turkish First Gastarbeiter Agreement (1961)
Ali Sait Yilkin | Bielefeld University

14:00–14:30 – Final Discussion

download presentation abstracts (day 2) [PDF]

^{Please note: The texts are protected under copyright - any form of distribution or use, also in parts, is not allowed without prior permission.}