Research Outputs

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/2

Browse

Filters

Advanced Search

Filter by

Settings

Indexed at: search.filters.indexed.TR DizinSubject: search.filters.subject.International Relations

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Competitive jihadism: understanding the survival strategies of jihadist de facto states
    (Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research, 2019) Ozpek, Burak Bilgehan; Yağış, Mehmet Yavuz; PhD Student; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A
    The debates dealing with ISIS address the questions of how ISIS is conceptualized, what its aim is, and how it has successfully retained a core sovereignty zone. This study attempts to answer these questions by proposing that ISIS is a de facto state and uses jihadism as a survival strategy. The term 'competitive jihadism' is used to argue that ISIS competes with its metropole states, Syria and Iraq, on the basis of jihadism. This is a deliberate strategy, which aims to attract Muslims inclined to radicalization as well as to recruit foreign fighters by showing the jihadist deficits of the metropole states. As the research shows, ISIS is successful at this game and has become a magnet for foreign fighters. Thus, it is able to increase its military capabilities and continue to survive.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Competitive jihadism: understanding the survival strategies of jihadist de facto states
    (Center Foreign Policy & Peace Research, 2019) Özpek, Burak Bilgehan; N/A; Yağış, Mehmet Yavuz; PhD Student; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A
    The debates dealing with ISIS address the questions of how ISIS is conceptualized, what its aim is, and how it has successfully retained a core sovereignty zone. This study attempts to answer these questions by proposing that ISIS is a de facto state and uses jihadism as a survival strategy. The term 'competitive jihadism' is used to argue that ISIS competes with its metropole states, Syria and Iraq, on the basis of jihadism. This is a deliberate strategy, which aims to attract Muslims inclined to radicalization as well as to recruit foreign fighters by showing the jihadist deficits of the metropole states. As the research shows, ISIS is successful at this game and has become a magnet for foreign fighters. Thus, it is able to increase its military capabilities and continue to survive.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Discourse analysis: strengths and shortcomings
    (Center Foreign Policy & Peace Research, 2019) Aydın-Düzgit, Senem; Department of International Relations; Rumelili, Bahar; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 51356
    Discourse analysis is a much-favoured textual analysis method among constructivist and critically minded International Relations scholars interested in the impact of identity, meaning, and discourse on world politics. The aim of this article is to guide students of Turkish IR in their choice and use of this method. Written by two Turkish IR scholars who have employed discourse analysis in their past and present research, this article also includes a personal reflection on its strengths and shortcomings. The first section of the article presents an overview of the conceptual and epistemological underpinnings of discourse analysis, while charting the evolution of discourse analysis in IR since the late 1980s in three phases. The second section offers insight into the personal history of the researchers in employing discourse analysis in their previous and ongoing research, while the third section provides a how-to manual by performing discourse analysis of an actual text. The concluding section focuses on the challenges faced in the conduct of discourse analysis and the potential ways to overcome them, also drawing from the researchers' own experiences in the field.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    International relations theory and the question of Eastern agency
    (Uluslararası İlişkiler Konseyi Derneği, 2009) Department of International Relations; Rumelili, Bahar; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 51356
    I argue that International Relations Theory has not been able to transcend its parochialism because it continues to negate the agency of the East. By analyzing the articles published in four leading journals of the discipline between 2002-2007, I find that the number of studies that focus on the East have indeed increased, but most of these studies continue to situate the cases derived from the East in the context of West-centric theories. Even critical approaches continue to position the West as the main subject of international relations and dismiss the mutual constitution and interaction between the East and the West, and the local and global. I contend that the generation of non-Western IR theories is not going to pose an adequate challenge to West-centrism; what is necessary is the formulation of specific propositions on East-West relations that directly counter the established assumptions of West-centric theories.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    Temporal horizons in the study of Turkish politics: prevalence of non-causal description and seemingly global warming type of causality
    (Center Foreign Policy & Peace Research, 2019) Department of International Relations; Aktürk, Şener; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 110043
    In this article, I critically evaluate the causal and temporal dimension of social scientific studies focusing on Turkish politics. A very important and yet often neglected aspect of social scientific analysis involves the temporal dimension of causal processes. The temporal dimension of causal processes has direct consequences for operationalization and measurement, and hence it is an essential component of research design. Does the dependent variable (outcome) of interest unfold over the short term or the long term? Do the hypothesized independent variables (causes) unfold over the short term or the long term? Paul Pierson (2004) provided a classification of four types of causality based on the temporal dimension of causes and outcomes using metaphors of natural disasters: tornado, earthquake, meteorite, and global warming. Operationalization and measurement of long term causes and outcomes pose a major challenge, compounded by the challenges of periodization of causes and effects. Unfortunately, a large proportion of the studies of Turkish politics do not have a clearly discernible independent variable (cause) to begin with, and they are thus better characterized as works of "non-causal description." Moreover, many of the studies of Turkish politics tend to imply, but rarely state explicitly, a global warming type of causality (long term cause and long term outcome), which necessitates focusing even more intensively on such challenges of measurement and periodization. Yet the operationalization of the key (dependent and independent) variables is often missing even in articles published in reputable academic journals of Turkish politics and society. In the spirit of constructive criticism, I suggest a number of guidelines for research design in order to address the problems of causality and temporality discussed in this article, including awareness of multi-temporal equifinality.
  • Placeholder
    PublicationMetadata only
    The political economy of "new Turkish foreign policy": a critical appraisal
    (Uluslararası İlişkiler Konseyi Derneği, 2012) N/A; N/A; Kutlay, Mustafa; PhD Student; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A
    In the recent Turkish foreign policy literature, political economy approaches have started to emerge in addition to the burgeoning international relations analyses. The political economy perspectives that consider foreign policy as a complex web of dynamic interaction between politics, economics and international relations, contribute significantly to more comprehensively furthering the understanding of foreign policy proactivism in Turkey. However, the current literature mainly concentrates on the role of economy in the new Turkish foreign policy within a descriptive framework rather than adopting a critical approach. Therefore, with the aim of filling the aforementioned gap in the literature, this study puts an emphasis on the constraints of the Turkish economy to be employed as a practical hand in Turkish foreign policy. This study highlights the importance of the transformation of Turkish political economy into a 'proactive state' structure in order to operationalize economy as a sustainable vehicle in foreign policy. In this regard, this study discusses the three fundamental constraints (1) lack of comprehensive industrial strategy, (2) asymmetric structure of foreign trade and (3) social polarization/lack of synergy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    PublicationOpen Access
    The role of democratic governance and indirect expropriation in international investment treaty violations
    (International Relations Council of Turkey (IRCT) / Uluslararası İlişkiler Konseyi Derneği, 2021) Ziegler, Jeffrey; Department of International Relations; Carlson, David George; Faculty Member; Department of International Relations; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics
    Democracies are thought to violate treaties less frequently than non-democracies, yet democracies violate bilateral investment treaties (BITs) just as often as non-democracies. Though democratic governments may intend to meet their international obligations, and though democratic institutions provide greater political constraints to encourage compliance, investment agreements may conflict with the goal of maintaining domestic public support. Specifically, we argue that credible elections create strong incentives for governments to side with domestic voters, and to pass legislation that violates investment agreements. The results suggest that the ability of voters to sanction leaders is an important mechanism that incentivizes governments to pass legislation that potentially violates investment treaties through indirect expropriation. / Demokratik rejimlerin, yaptıkları anlaşmaları demokratik olmayan rejimlerden daha nadir olarak ihlal ettikleri varsayılır; fakat demokratik rejimler, iki taraflı yatırım anlaşmalarını demokratik olmayan rejimler kadar sık ihlal eder. Demokratik hükümetler uluslararası yükümlülüklerini yerine getirme niyetinde olsa ve demokratik kurumlar bu yükümlülüklere riayeti destekleyen daha fazla siyasi kısıtlama sağlasa da yatırım anlaşmaları, yurtiçinde kamuoyu desteğini devam ettirme hedefleriyle çatışabilir. Bu çalışmada, meşru seçimlerin, hükümetleri yurtiçindeki seçmenlerin yanında durmaya ve yatırım anlaşmalarını ihlal eden yasalar geçirmeye teşvik ettiğini savunmaktayız. Araştırmamızın sonuçları gösteriyor ki seçmenlerin yöneticiler üzerinde yaptırım gücüne sahip olması, hükümetleri yatırım anlaşmalarını dolaylı kamulaştırma yoluyla ihlal edebilecek yasalar geçirmeye yönlendiren önemli bir teşvik mekanizması yaratıyor