ABSTRACT
Lately, discussions regarding the social obligations of the state are increasing. The idea that the state should get rid of its socioeconomic burden -in parallel with the impose of the downsizing principle of today’s dominant ideology neoliberalism on the states- is in the center of these discussions. As a result of these imperatives, it is possible to observe that social policies are reduced to social assistances and the state tries to transfer its tasks in this context to institutions which can be called as welfare mix. Food banking which is an example of this approach, emerges as a third sector application. Food banks are non-profit organizations which deliver the donated and surplus food to needy through collection, storage and distribution. Rapid increase of food banks born in America in the 1970s and spreading rapidly to Europe leads to debates not only on food safety and how to attain it, but also on social policy. The leading issue of these debates is the states’ getting rid of its duties as a social state with this kind of practices. On the other hand, it’s clearly seen that the aids are criticised to cause clientelism as they are executed both by the foundation/associations and by municipalities which leads to disarrangement and audit problems. In this context, considering these criticisms, it’s obvious that food banking should be evaluated in terms of rights-based social policy, even if this is in its early stages in Turkey
Keywords : Food banking, clientalism, rights-based social policy, third sector
