The place of social identity in Turkey's foreign policy options in the post-Cold War era in the light of liberal and constructivist approaches
Author(s)
Advisor
Bazoğlu Sezer, DuyguDate
2001Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
This thesis aims to describe the positions of diverse social identities in Turkey
concerning Turkey’s foreign policy options in the post-Cold War era. This exercise will
be placed within the framework of the theoretical propositions of liberal and
constructivist International Relations (IR) theories with special references to their
emphases on the role of identity on foreign policy making in a comparative manner. For
liberal theoreticians, key concept is “state preferences” in the formation of foreign
policy. They argue that state preferences are formed in the process of the competition of
views among social identities in the society as well as by the constraints resulting from
the preferences of other states. In the constructivist theory, a key concept is “national
interests” which are constructed and negotiated socially by the discourses among
different national identities. In this context, it will be examined the impact of diverse
social identities, namely, Kemalist, liberal, nationalist, Kurdish and Islamic identities on
the Turkey’s foreign policies towards Europe and Eurasia.
Keywords
IdentityTurkish Foreign Policy
Liberal International Relations Theory
Constuctivist International Relations Theory