The environment is now a major issue area for national political andpolicy-making processes in Turkey. Partly as a response to domesticpressures that manifested themselves in powerful environmental socialmovements and partly as a reaction to international trends unleashedby milestone events like the Rio Conference, the state has puttogether, albeit haphazardly, an impressive body of environmentalpolicies and legislations that seek to render sustainable theenvironmental impacts of economic processes and to manage nationalnatural endowments such as biodiversity, coastal waters and forestresources. However, the overall impact of these political, judicialand policy-oriented attempts to develop a national strategy ofsustainable development has been limited at best. The goal of thispaper is to develop an explanation for this paradoxical failure.Turkey is by no means an exception in its failure to reach sustainabledevelopment. In fact, outside of a small group of countries such asThe Netherlands, Norway and Japan, most others have failed to takemeaningful strides towards balancing environmental protection witheconomic development. Nevertheless, the case of Turkey deservesparticular attention because, unlike other countries with comparablelevels of socioeconomic development (e.g. Mexico, South Korea), sheseemingly has all the ingredients (e.g. well-developed environmentalpolicies, active environmental civil society, capable publicenvironmental institutions, etc.) associated with effectiveenvironmental policy-making. Therefore, the environmentalproblematique in Turkey is not so much 'Why is the environmentneglected in contemporary Turkish political economy?' as it is 'Whyhave the environmental policies of the Turkish state remained largelyinefficacious despite its bureaucratic strength, legislative reach andpublic support?'The paper develops an analytical framework to understand the nature ofpolicy design and implementation that governs the effectiveness ofenvironmental policies. In other words, the paper focuses on thepolitics and policy of environmental governance in Turkey rather thanon why and how various actors develop, modify and exercise theirenvironmental values. Put differently, the focus is on historicaltrends, political forces and incentive structures, and how theydevelop and change over time. While this approach necessitates adegree of reductionism, it would not be possible to construct a solidanalytical model without abstract reasoning.  Finding answers to thetwo paradoxes described above is important for two raisons. Firstly, aclear and precise understanding of why and how environmental policiessucceed and fail is essential if the ecological impact of Turkey'scontinued economic development is to be kept under control. Secondly,insights gained from this exercise would also help shed light ontoother areas where policy effectiveness has also been problematic. Assuch, this paper is not simply an exercise in understanding thepolitics and policy of environmental preservation in Turkey. On alarger level, it aims to contribute to efforts to understand the rootcauses of Turkey's failure to successfully reform its political andeconomic institutions despite its long-standing ambition, going as farback as the late 17th century, to modernize itself.Fikret Adaman is currently a Professor of Economics at BoğaziçiUniversity. He was one of the delegate members representing the civilsocietey of Turkey on environmental issues at the Johanesburgh EarthSummit of 2002 (WSSD). His research interests are in the areas ofcomparative schools of economic thought, environmental economics,political economy of corruption and modalities of participatoryeconomics. His articles on environmental issues have been published inpeer-reviewed journals such as Environment and Behavior, Studies inPolitical Economy and International Review of Sociology. He is theco-editor of Integrating and Articulating Environments, 2003,published by Swets & Zeitlinger, and Environmentalism in Turkey, 2005,published by Ashgate.