Technological Transformation of Türkiye’s Public Sector from a Realist Perspective

Technological transformation can be considered a horizontal policy field, which influences multiple aspects of the public sector functions and services. This paper examines Türkiye’s strategic approach to technological transformation in the public sector from a realist perspective by analyzing the institutional structure, key policy documents, initiatives, legal arrangements and practices. In the realist approach, the domestic affairs of states as well as science and technology issues are mostly considered in the soft power category and are seen as secondary policy areas. While the facilitation of public administration and the strengthening of public sector capacity appear to constitute the primary rationale behind technological transformation, this article contends that a number of other underlying factors, which can be explained through a realist perspective, may also be at play. This research aims to contribute to the realist literature by illustrating that technological developments can be influential on power relations, national security and sovereignty. In addition, the digitalization maturity of the public sector in Türkiye is presented by utilizing several rankings, benchmarks, reports and reviews. The study draws on an exhaustive purposive sample encompassing all publicly available strategy documents and action plans on technological transformation, spanning the period from the first policy documents published in the 1990s to 2026. These documents were analyzed through document analysis and conceptual qualitative content analysis, in which key realist concepts such as power, sovereignty, security, and national interest guided the identification and interpretation of relevant textual content. The findings reveal that Türkiye's ambitions for the technological transformation of its public sector are meaningful when examined from a realist perspective, and that efforts toward the technological transformation of the public sector in Türkiye are closely related to the maintenance of the balance of power and the survival of the state through the establishment of cybersecurity and cyber sovereignty.