Globalization, modernity and democracy: in search of a viable domestic polity for a sustainable Turkish foreign policy

Abstract

in recent years. Turkey has initiated a proactive, multi-dimensional and constructive foreign policy in many areas, ranging front contributing to peace and stability in the Middle East, to playing an active role in countering terrorism and extremism, from becoming a new "energy hub" to acting as one of the architects of "the inter-civilization dialogue initiative" aiming at producing a vision of the world, based on dialogue, tolerance and living together. Thus, there has been an upsurge of interest in, and a global attraction to, Turkey and its contemporary history. Moreover, the global attraction to Turkey has stemmed not only from the geopolitical identity of Turkey, As a strong state with the capacity to function as a "geopolitical security hinged' in the intersection of the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasian regions, but also from its cultural identity as a modern national formation with parliamentary democratic governance, secular constitutional structure and mainly Muslim population. Furthermore, As the world has become more globalized, more interdependent and more risky, this new foreign policy identity entailed the employment of not only geopolitics but also identity and economy. Thus, geopolitics, modernity and democracy have become the constitutive dimensions of Turkish foreign policy today This paper explores the ways in which the increasing role and visibility of "soft power" in Turkish foreign policy operates, and suggests that to be sustainable, Turkish foreign policy, relying on soft power, should go hand in hand with the process of the consolidation of Turkish democracy, and also accept and put into practice Turkey-EU relations as the main axis of proactiveness and constructiveness.