Municipally owned corporations and autonomy in centralized states—A comparative analysis of Turkey and Israel

Corporatization of local government is a common practice in centralized states, where municipally owned corporations (MOCs) can increase local autonomy and generate independent municipal revenue. The authors’ comparative analysis of MOC autonomy in Turkey and Israel shows that, in traditional service areas, public accountability is prioritized over performance in MOCs. The traditional distinction between MOCs based on public law and private law was found to be inadequate, as most MOCs are hybrid and subject to both public and private law. The findings highlight the importance of central government control as a key driver behind MOC autonomy formation. This research contributes to the agency, local government and MOC literatures by introducing a new MOC typology based on factual autonomy which can be operationalized to study cross-sectional and cross-sectoral patterns for MOC autonomy.