Turkey's Shifting Dynamics


Book Description




Continuity and Change in Turkish Politics


Book Description

This book features leading scholars examining the dynamics of Turkish politics through alternative themes, including political economy and behavior. It provides a comprehensive understanding of continuity and change within Turkey’s political system, utilizing rigorous empirical work and data. This book delves into the complexities of Turkish politics, the political economy of democratic backsliding, economic voting trends, political competition and change, populism, ideology, candidate nomination, and the impact of the international political economy on Turkey. While doing so, it focuses on the 2023 elections in Turkey. The chapters in this edited volume analyze these themes, offering fresh insights into systemic party competition, voting behavior, and the political economy of Turkey. This timely publication promises to be an essential resource for understanding recent shifts in Turkish politics and will benefit students, researchers and scholars interested in Politics, Political Economy, and Turkish Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.




A Transnational Account of Turkish Foreign Policy


Book Description

This book offers an analysis of Turkish foreign policy based on transnational(ist) perspectives. In order to counterbalance the state-centric accounts that dominate this area of study, the authors provide theoretical frameworks as well as historical and contemporary case studies that emphasize transnational dynamics. The content is divided into four complementary sections that explain and exemplify transnational (f)actors in the context of Turkish foreign policy. The first addresses theoretical and ideational frameworks that illustrate the relevance of a transnational account, while the second demonstrates the possibility of developing transnationally oriented approaches even in historical cases, going beyond a presentist focus. In the third and fourth sections, the book focuses on two prominent non-state actors, namely diaspora communities and non-governmental organizations, which operate at the interstices of the domestic and the international. This allows the authors to highlight the significance of transnational dynamics in Turkey's foreign policy. ​Hazal Papuççular is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Kültür University, Turkey. She completed her Ph.D. in Modern Turkish History at Boğaziçi University's Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History and has written several books, articles and book chapters on Turkish foreign policy. She is the author of Türkiye ve Oniki Ada (1912-1947) (Türkiye İş Bankası Yayınları, 2019) and is currently focusing on Turkey's transnational diplomatic history. Deniz Kuru is a Lecturer of Political Science at Goethe Universität Frankfurt in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. His current research areas include the intellectual history and sociology of International Relations, German and French foreign policies, Turkey's global position, global intellectual history and global International Relations. He has published articles in Review of International Studies, International Relations, All Azimuth, Global Affairs and Mediterranean Politics.




Secularism and State Religion in Modern Turkey


Book Description

The Diyanet, the official face of Islam in Turkey, is the `Presidency of Religious Affairs', a governmental department established in 1924 after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of Caliphate. In this book, Emir Kaya offers an in-depth multidisciplinary analysis of this vital institution. Focusing on the role of the Diyanet in society, Kaya explores the balance the institution has to strike between the Muslim traditions of the Turkish population and the secular creed of the Turkish state. By examining the various laws that either bolstered or hindered the Diyanet's budgets and activities, Kaya highlights the institutional mindsets of the Diyanet membership. He also evaluates its successes and failures as a state department that must consistently operate within the context of the religiosity of Turkish society. By situating all of this within the two competing - but often complimentary - concepts of religion and secularism, Kaya offers a book that is important for those researching the interplay of Islam and the state in Turkey and beyond.




The New Turkish Foreign Policy: Reassessment and Change


Book Description

During the recent years, Turkey has put immense efforts in healing relations with its neighbors, establishing closer ties regarding various interest areas, be it economic, cultural or political issues and acting as a facilitator in its close environment. However, once one looks back in history, Turkey during the 1900s conducted a very different foreign policy strategy and viewed its close neighbors with suspicion and mistrust. This study argues that there has been a reassessment in Turkish Foreign Policy which has helped Turkey to acquire a new role in the Middle East. In this regard, this research aims to analyze whether there has been a changeover in Turkish Foreign Policy and if so, what were the consequences regarding Turkey’s relations with its neighbors. Along with that purpose, this study will elaborate on the factors which have shaped Turkish Foreign Policy, primarily on economic aspirations. Furthermore, the goal of this research is to focus particularly on Turkey’s relations towards its Middle Eastern neighbors. Consequently, this research will help to understand fully Turkey’s recent involvement regarding the Arab uprisings and increasing commitment to the Middle East.




The EU in a Trans-European Space


Book Description

This book examines political, social, and economic interactions in highly interconnected areas, stretching from Europe to Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia, labelled as Trans-Europe. The first part of the book focuses on the interests of several leading actors in Trans-Europe. The second part deals with the actions of national actors trying to compete with the EU influence in their shared neighbourhood. The third part studies cross-border issues, such as economic dynamics, migration flows and energy markets in the Trans-European space.




U.S.-Turkey Relations


Book Description

Turkey is a rising regional and global power facing, as is the United States, the challenges of political transitions in the Middle East, bloodshed in Syria, and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. As a result, it is incumbent upon the leaders of the United States and Turkey to define a new partnership "in order to make a strategic relationship a reality," says a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)-sponsored Independent Task Force.




The Foreign Policy of Modern Turkey


Book Description

In the last three decades, Turkey has attempted to build close relationships with Russia, Iran and the Turkic World. As a result, there has been ongoing debate about the extent to which Turkey's international relations axis is shifting eastwards. Ozgur Tufekci argues that Eurasianist ideology has been fundamental to Turkish foreign policy and continues to have influence today. The author first explores the historical roots of Eurasianism in the 19th century, comparing this to Neo-Eurasianism and Pan-Slavism. The Ozal era (1983-1993), the Cem era (1997-2002) and Davutoglu era (since 2003) are then examined to reveal how foreign policy making has been informed by discourses of Eurasianism, and how Eurasianist ideas were implemented through internal and external socio-economic and political factors.




Between Peace and Conflict in the East and the West


Book Description

This open access book features various studies on democratization, transformation, socio-economic development, and security issues in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) geographical region and beyond. Written by experts and scholars working in the field of human dimension, security, transformation and development in Europe and Asia, particularly in post-soviet and communist countries, it examines the connectivity that the OSCE provides between the East and the West. The 2021 edition of this Compilation Series of the OSCE Academy presents studies on peace and conflict as well as political regime development in various member states of the OSCE as well as their economic, security and human rights performance and the challenges countries and society face currently. The OSCE is working in promoting Human Rights and Democratization under the notion of Human Dimension of ODIHR and is enhancing securitization and development policies in Eurasia, Europe, Central Asia and North America since 1991. 2021 marks the 30th anniversary on the tremendous efforts in promoting democracy, security and development. This compilation reviews some of these efforts in light of this anniversary, the achievements and shortcomings.




Eurasia's Shifting Geopolitical Tectonic Plates


Book Description

This anthology of articles, short studies, and interviews by Alexandros Petersen was written over the span of ten years, starting in 2004. Yet they are even more relevant today in their prescient analysis. Petersen insightfully addressed the implications of the West withdrawing its engagement from the Caucasus and Central Asia, the expansion of the Chinese influence, and Russia’s strategic interests. The collection is organized along four main topics: (1) Eurasia and a changing transatlantic world: the world politics of shifting frontiers in the post-Soviet world; (2) Energy geopolitics in the Caspian and beyond, with its crucial implications for European energy security; (3) the Black Sea world, covering the dynamics of Russia, Turkey, and the South Caucasus, including the role of NATO and frozen conflicts in the region; (4) the new silk roads: China’s inroads in Central Asia, which is often overlooked in the West but will be critical for the geopolitical balance of powers.