Browsing by Subject "Arab Spring"
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Item Open Access The Arab Spring: A Game Changer in Turkey-EU Relations?(2013) Dinçer O.B.; Kutlay, M.We argue in this paper that the Arab Spring has opened a window of opportunity not just to create stability and democracy in one of the most unstable regions of the world, but also for revitalizing Turkey-EU relations. In theory, Turkey-EU cooperation can make a decisive difference in determining the outcome of the triangular relationship between stability, development, and democratization in the Arab region. In normative terms, as an opportunity, it must be turned into an advantage. From a practical perspective, however, transforming the window of opportunity into policy output is linked to the policy leadership of the sides involved to undergo a paradigm shift in their approach to the region and toward one another. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.Item Open Access Beware the winter is coming! Arab Spring in the global media(Routledge, 2017) Uludağ, P. C.This study critically examines how the global media uses the concept of revolution when reporting about the Arab Spring. The understanding of the concept informed by historical Western revolutionary events perpetuates Eurocentrism which continues the inability to comprehend the regional, cultural, and political peculiarities of the Arab Spring. Media framing analysis reveals the use of the outdated notions of revolution based on six common attributes. The concept of revolution defined by the six attributes fails to address the events because it is delimited by its own Western origin and with its own understanding of modernization and progress. Such use of the concept is maintained by the media but also affects perception of the events while de-emphasizing their revolutionary character. © 2017 National Communication Association.Item Open Access Explaining duration of leadership change in Arab uprisings through perceived political opportunity structures : comparing Egypt and Syria(Bilkent University, 2016-09) Dinçer, Osman BahadırEgyptian President Mubarak was forced to leave office after turbulent public protests that lasted eighteen days in 2011. Yet, in the Syrian case, we have currently been witnessing a completely different state of affairs. Hence, this comparative work is an attempt at exploring the dynamics of change within the context of domestic politics in two of the most important ‘Arab Spring’ countries, Egypt and Syria. The present research seeks to answer the following question: During the recent uprisings in the Arab world, why has the removal from office of the incumbent leader is less likely in Syria when compared to Egypt? The purpose of this research is two-fold. First, it investigates whether or not the historical trajectories [particularly from early 1970s to 2011] of these two states indicate a substantial difference in terms of being politically open or closed and in having different institutions with different characteristics. Second, it examines to what extent the strategies implemented by the regimes during the uprisings (January 25, 2011- February 11, 2011 [Egypt] and March 2011-2014 [Syria]) influence the claim-making capabilities of those opposition groups and the structure of elite alliances within the society and political scene. This work mainly follows the ‘political process’ (political opportunity structures) and ‘framing’ understandings of recent social movement literature, which describe the available and perceived opportunities and constraints of a political and institutional environment in which actors operate. Apart from the theoretical frameworks, the concept of ‘Social Drama’, envisaged by Victor Turner, has been employed as a convenient template to render the dynamics of the political processes under investigation more comprehensible. The data from large numbers of in-depth interviews with over 60 local informants is supported by an extensive literature review that includes very recent scholarly works in order to achieve more accurate claims. What is aimed at here is understanding this particular region better based on theoretically informed in-depth case studies, complemented by comparisons.Item Open Access From good neighbor to model: Turkey's changing roles in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring(International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK), 2014) Özdamar, Ö.; Halistoprak, B. T.; Sula, İ. E.The recent Arab uprisings have forced many actors to reconsider their positions regarding Middle Eastern politics. Role theory provides a viable tool to explain changes in actors’ foreign policy behaviors, presuming that states’ foreign policies are shaped by the ruling elites’ foreign policy role conceptions. This article analyzes Turkish foreign policy roles with regard to the Middle East and North Africa before and since the Arab uprisings that began in December 2010. We argue that these uprisings caused Turkey to change its emphasis from roles built on soft power instruments to harder roles requiring material capabilities. We also discuss the implications of this change with reference to theories of international politics.Item Open Access Revolution, modernity and the Arab Spring(Bilkent University, 2017-07) Cafnik Uludağ, PetraThis dissertation critically examines how linguistic and discursive practices in global media discourses devalorize the revolutionary implications of the so called Arab Spring. By using media framing analysis it approaches the global media’s construct of the Arab Spring as a revolutionary event in three steps. First, it analyzes framing and usage of the name Arab Spring, showing how the name itself implies two defining characteristics of the events: the Arabness and the Springness. Second, it focuses on the universal conception of revolution, questioning its relationship with Western modernity that affects the way global media approach and represent non- Western revolutions. Third, it compares global media practices with local media practices, highlighting how Eurocentric understanding of the events affects media reporting in global news outlets. The thesis finds that regional, cultural, and political peculiarities of the Arab Spring affected global media’s reporting. When the global Western media approached the revolutions in the Arab world, the Arab Spring was not just a name; it became a condensation of political and social contexts that provided the meaning for the events. Western media has conceptualized the Arab Spring as a regional Arab event, a temporary awakening, that can suddenly turn into a suppression of will and progress. Further on the concept of revolution as used by the media failed to explain the events: first, because the concept is defined by its own Western identity; second, because it is defined with its own understanding of modernization and progress that is specific to the European context.Item Open Access The role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in light of repertoires(Routledge, 2019-02) Coşkun, Efser RanaThis article examines the role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in the context of collective level emotions in mobilizations. Emotions are understood as a catalyst whose mechanism of action is performed through repertories. This article seeks to answer how emotions, having a triggering role, are performed through repertoires while accelerating mobilization against authoritarian orders, creating the intersection of individual and collective level emotions in public spheres of Tunisia and Egypt, and thus affecting the transnational diffusion of emotions. The significant reason to address emotions is to explain what stimulated the Arab Spring and how it spread over the region starting from Tunisia and Egypt. This article synthesizes two literatures: International Relations (IR) and social movements studies in light of emotions and components of repertoires which are as follows: collective action, collective identity, symbolic politics, network society and information politics.Item Open Access The stock and CDS market consequences of political uncertainty: the Arab Spring(Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, 2021-08-02) Tanyeri, Başak; Savaser, T.; Usul, N.We investigate how political unrest affects asset prices in the context of the Arab Spring. Abnormal returns in the major stock-market indices of Arab Spring countries average −1.1% on key days of Arab Spring and abnormal changes in credit default spreads average 1.4%. There is significant reaction to region wide as well as local protests indicating a spillover with protests in neighboring countries affecting investors’ perception of local political instability and the pricing of assets. Once protests start locally, investors start paying more attention to what is happening at home than in the region. The significant stock market reaction to region-wide protests in Arab Spring countries indicates a spill-over where investors price an increase in the probability of political turmoil in one country when there are protests in neighboring countries. The decline in stock market indices coupled with the increase in credit default spreads indicates that investors anticipate and ex-ante price how current political uncertainty will affect firm value.Item Open Access Unveiling the unknown face: the role of the united nations in promoting democracy(T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi, 2014) Sejdiu, Bekim; Önsoy, M.The general tendency in academic writing about the UN is to highlight its contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as its role in boosting economic, social and other forms of cooperation among states. One aspect that has been left rather in the shadow is the UN’s role in democracy promotion. This article explores the UN’s engagement in promoting democracy around the world through theoretical, legal, historical and conceptual lenses. The major question it addresses is whether the UN is engaged in promoting democracy, and, if yes, how this role has manifested itself on normative and institutional grounds. This article identifies fundamental ways in which the UN contributes to the globalisation of the norm of democracy. The major argument underlined by the article is that the UN has a long history of involvement in democracy promotion, although it has done so more spontaneously than in pursuit of a clear objective and strategy. Democracy promotion, United Nations, post- Cold War era, transitional democracy, electoral assistance, democratic institutions, peace- building, norm-making, Arab Spring.