Time to quantify Turkey’s foreign affairs: setting quality standards for a maturing international relations discipline

Abstract

The first part of this article discusses the current state of International Relations (IR) in Turkey, and begins with the argument that the local disciplinary community shows limited scholarly engagement. The article proposes that the growth of such engagement could be encouraged by increased methodological diversity, in particular additional research using quantitative methods. It argues that quantitative research could contribute to engagement by providing conceptual and methodological clarity around which scholarly debates could develop and ultimately contribute to Turkish IR’s progress as a disciplinary community. To substantiate these claims, the article goes on to discuss the development and contributions of quantitative research to global IR, and illustrates the potential benefits of using quantitative methods in the study of Turkish foreign affairs.