Nesecan Balkan, lecturer in economics and women's studies, has co-edited two books with Dr. Sungur Savran. The first book, "The Politics of Permanent Crisis: Class, Ideology and State in Turkey" (New York: Nova, 2002), is a collection of 10 essays on current political and ideological issues in Turkey covering a wide range of topics including the Kurdish question, the recent rise of nationalism, relations with the European Union, the question of political Islam in Turkey and the Cyprus issue. Each essay touches on historical developments related to the specific topic it explores, thus providing accessible background information to uninformed readers. The first chapter is a comprehensive analysis of the 20th-century Turkish political economy.
The second book, "The Ravages of Neo-Liberalism: Economy, Society and Gender in Turkey" (New York: Nova, 2002), a collection of 14 essays on economic, social and gender-related issues, is the companion volume to "The Politics of Permanent Crisis: Class, Ideology and State in Turkey." Essays in this book focus on issues including the impact of structural adjustment programs imposed by the IMF, the decline of the social security system, privatization of education, Turkey's military spending, the capital accumulation process in Turkey, recent developments in the labor market, problems of women in labor unions and gender and employment relations in Turkey.
The goal of this collective effort by writers from Turkey is to offer a depiction of and solutions to various problems using critical and non-mainstream approaches.
