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Privatizations have often been chastised for their pernicious effects on social development and democratization. The main reasons for the negative reputation of privatizations have been downsizing and increased unemployment in the post-privatizations period and lack of transparency and increased corruption during their implementation. This paper looks at the impact of privatizations on democratization by carrying out a comparative study of the transformation of labor unions in the post-privatizations period in Turkey and Argentina. It concludes that labor unions in these two utterly distinct countries and cultures have changed their structure, internal workings and external relations with other governance actors towards more democratic stands. Based on in-depth interviews with over fifty labor union leaders at different levels of union hierarchy, the study concludes that privatizations can democratize institutions by rendering them more active, more collaborative and more competitive in social, political and economic terms. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor unions all around the world are changing their strategies to adapt to the new requirements of the global economy. In the face of increasing unemployment and decreasing rates of unionization, unions offer a variety of services to their members a ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) turned out as the main victor of the Turkish elections held on November 3rd, receiving approximately 34 percent of the votes. Even though, since its establishment, AKP has continuously tried to distance itself from its Islamic past to appeal to mainstream voters, this victory was welcomed rather hesitantly by the secular milieus in Turkey and the international arena. The reserved stance toward the ex-mayor of the city of Istanbul, who during that time had banned alcohol in places owned by the local government, gave way to a whole another debate, however; that of whether a moderately Islamic party a la Christian Democrats can exist, and as such, disprove Huntington’s thesis of clash of civilizations. Erdogan said his party would consider Turkey’s bid to join the European Union as its top priority. He also pledged that his party would keep working with the International Monetary Fund. Ironically enough, Germany’s Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, narrowly re-elected a month before Erdogan, also had to quell his critics’ claims, mostly from the Christian Democrats arguing that the Red-Green coalition would not return Germany to its economic health, nor would it be able to break out of the isolation of Europe from America. This paper compares and contrasts the Christian Democratic Movement and the AKP in terms of three different criteria: conditions of their historical emergence, party programs, and the rhetoric of their respective leaders. AKP is therefore pitted against the Christian Democratic Movement with regard to these measures, the latter being represented by the two pioneering and well-entrenched Christian Democratic Parties in Germany, i.e., the Christian Social Union of Bavaria and Christian Democratic Union. The aim of the paper is to provide a preliminary answer to the question of whether the AKP can be the genesis of a Muslim Democratic’ movement, and as such, possibly give rise to a religious reformation in political Islam, which would have drastic effects reaching out far beyond Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]