The determinants of local government performance have long been of interest, and have been empirically investigated in a number of recent studies. A general question in this area is: why have some local governments across the countries achieved high rates of performance whilst the others remained at lower levels? Evidence from the relevant literature indicates that some local governments or municipalities, particularly in developed countries, achieve very good performance. Others, in particular those from underdeveloped or developing, have very little or almost no performance.

This research empirically investigates the budgeting conditions in North Cyprus and evaluate how budgeting conditions vary from one municipality to the other in the five major municipalities; Lefkosa, Magusa, Girne, Guzelyurt and Iskele over the period 2004Q1 to 2012Q4. Two types of methodologies are conducted. First; it empirically investigates the determinants of local government deficit by using cointegration techniques. The Johansen co-integration and The Vector Error Correction model (VECM) are applied to test the effect of each element such as own-source revenue, grants, expenditures and debt services on the budget deficit. Second, the study test the convergence hypothesis if similar regions within the country converge to the same long-run steady state by considering five major Cypriot municipalities in the North Cyprus economy.

The results from the empirical analysis on budget deficit findings show that there is evidence of a long-run relationship between general deficit and its determinants. The evidence of causality is found from expenditure and debt to general deficit for Lefkosa municipality. There is unidirectional causality from grant and revenue through deficit for Magusa municipality. Third empirical analysis on convergence introduced that the municipalities with the lowest number of people per staff, commonly diverge from the group mean.

Bu kitap, Avrupa Birliği ve Kalkınma Ajansları başta olmak üzere, diğer fon sağlayıcı özel kurumlar tarafından çıkılan teklif çağrıları aracılığıyla hibe programlarından finans desteği alarak, Türkiye’nin proje yapabilme ve uygulayabilme kapasitesine katkı sağlamak isteyen tüm sivil toplum kuruluşları, üniversiteler, belediyeler, resmi kurumlar ve şahıslar için hazırlanmıştır.

Uygun ve kabul edilebilir bir proje hazırlayabilmek için dikkat edilmesi gereken Proje Döngüsü Yönetimi örneklerle açıklanmaya çalışılmış ve örneklerle de desteklenmiştir. Yanı sıra örnek proje bütçesi ile bir projenin belki de en zor kısmı daha da görsel bir şekilde sunularak zoru kolaya dönüştürme amaçlanmıştır. Yanı sıra Avrupa Birliği ve Avrupa Birliği – Türkiye ilişkilerine genel bir değerlendirme çerçevesinden yaklaşılmış ve Türkiye’de uygulanan hibe mekanizmaları ve programları hakkında bilgi verilmiştir.

The change of the geopolitical realities, the emergence of new regional dynamics and the perception of security in Central Asia have also changed current perspectives in the region. Fully revised and updated to cover the latest informations and developments, the book will provide comprehensive, accessible and successful introduction for those who are interested in the Central Asia region. As the editors, we have filled a long-neglected gap by producing a volume that authoritatively covers the states of the region. The book will become a definitive text for the teaching as it presents in-depth explorations of systemic and sophisticated way of understanding the actors and processes and offers case study encompassing many subjects about Central Asia. It conbines old and new perspectives with discerning care.

This book –The Changing Perspectives of Central Asia in the 21^st Century- has provided readers with prominent knowledge of independence period, actors, minority issues, nation-state building process, energy, security, water, boundary, regional integration and foreign policies of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan with each other and with Russia, China, America, the EU and Turkey. The book claims that geopolitical realities, regional dynamics and the perception of security in Central Asia have changed. Thus, the book focuses on environmental degradation, cyber insecurity and social unrest triggered by sovereign debt traps. These discussions highlight the necessity to reconsider the traditional perception of security as the analysis has to go beyond the state to address a wide range of security threats.

Dr. Murat YORULMAZ is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at Trakya University, Edirne.

Dr. Serdar YILMAZ is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla.

This book is written for the students of undergraduate and graduate programs of Business and Economics departments as well as for the academic researchers. It is designed especially for the students and researchers who do not have strong mathematics or statistics background. It encompasses basic to advance time series data analysis tools. Special focus is given to applications and interpretations of the results.