Europeanization, domestic political change and civil-military relations in Turkey

Abstract

This dissertation explores the impact of the European Union on domestic political change in the area of civil-military relations in Turkey. The history of modern Turkey is characterized by the objective of becoming a full member of the European society of states. For this purpose, Westernization and modernization are the constituting discourses and practices of the modern Turkish Republic. Yet beginning in the 1960s and culminating in the 1990s, the deepening of the process of European economic and political integration has led to serious transformations in the European state system and society. Recent works studying the nature and scope of this change conceptualize this process as Europeanization. According to these studies, the European Union is the main variable triggering domestic transformation in the member states and candidate countries. The impact of the European Union is also strongly felt in Turkey, which is a candidate for membership in the phase of preaccession. This dissertation analyzes domestic political change in the realm of civilmilitary relations from the perspective of the Europeanization approach. The framework proposed to study the Turkish case is intended to contribute to the knowledge of Europeanization and Turkey-European Union relations.