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Security is a major contemporary concern, with foreign and security policies topping the agenda of many governments. At the centre of Western security concerns is Turkey, due to its geographical proximity to converging major fault lines such as the Caucasus, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. As trans-Atlantic debates evolve around these major fault lines, future relations will have a direct impact on the re-orientation of Turkish foreign and security policies. This comprehensive study focuses on the future of Turkish foreign and security policies within the emerging strategies of the two Wests. Discussing the challenges Turkey has been facing since the turn of the century, it examines Turkish foreign policy in the context of trans-Atlantic relations - as a global actor, and with respect to conflict, new power relations, energy security, Greece, Cyprus and the environment.
This unique book investigates the complex transformation of Turkey's foreign policy, focusing on changing threat perceptions and the reformulation of its Western identity. This transformation cannot be explained solely in terms of strategic choices or agency driven policies but encompasses power shifts and systemic transformations. Is Turkey shifting its axis? Will this affect its traditional Western-oriented foreign policy? The book begins by discussing the relationship between security and globalization, using examples of Turkey's regional positioning. It then focuses on to what extent the 'traditional' discourse on security in Turkish politics, which prevailed during the Cold War era and beyond, has undergone a change in the new era. This timely book is a much needed account of how pragmatism rather than ideology is the main determinant in Turkey's current foreign policy and should be read by all looking for a fresh and stimulating take on Turkey's response to globalization and the internationalization of security in the 21st Century.
Debating Security in Turkey: Challenges and Changes in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Ebru Canan-Sokullu, gives a detailed account of the strategic security agenda facing Turkey in an era of uncertainty and swift transformation in global politics, and regional and local dynamics. The contributors to this volume describe the challenges and changes that Turkey encounters in the international, regional, and national environment at a time of extraordinary flux. This study provides a framework for Turkish security agenda locating it in theoretical discussions, and developing a conceptual framework of security challenges to Turkey, and to a broader region where the country and its interests a...
This volume explores the role of water in the Middle East's current economic, political and environmental transformations, which are set to continue in the near future. In addition to examining water conflict from within the domestic contexts of Iraq, Yemen and Syria-- all experiencing high levels of instability today--the contributors shed further light on how conflict over water resources has influenced political relations in the region. They interrogate how competition over water resources may precipitate or affect war in the Middle East, and assess whether or how resource vulnerability impacts fragile states and societies in the region and beyond. Water and Conflict in the Middle East is an essential contribution to our understanding of turbulence in this globally significant region.
The Gulf is a sub-region consisting of Saudi Arabia and five small states, namely Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. This sub-region emerged after the British recognized the independence of the above-mentioned small entities between 1961 and 1971. Having an abundant amount of natural resources, i.e. oil and natural gas, the Gulf States are among the richest countries in the world; therefore, they do not share the poverty and political instability widely found in the Middle East. The Gulf is a sub-region consisting of Saudi Arabia and five small states, namely Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. This sub-region emerged after the British recognize...
The GCC states and Turkey have recently experienced economic growth and played influential regional roles. In tandem, their relationships grew significantly, and Turkey was considered, for a while, as a “strategic partner”. Common challenges have made them consider an alliance to balance other powers and threats. However, many emerging issues have turned them into rivals for regional influence on divergent agendas during the last decade. All in all, their relations are dynamic and rapidly changing. Some regional crises were subjects of political agreement and coordination in their early stages, such as the cases in Libya, Syria and Yemen. However, this agreement has diminished and someti...
This book dwells upon the various aspects of the Turkish foreign policy in the different regions of the world, especially with the dawn of the twenty-first century. Turkey has attracted international attention due to a marked transformation in the country’s domestic and external realms, which in turn, has led to an increased activism in its foreign policy actions. Particularly, Turkey’s economic rise has fuelled the country’s ambition and quest for a more significant role in international affairs. These transformations have come about with the ascendance of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) [or Justice & Development Party (JDP)] to power in 2002. Turkey, under the AKP, moved towards a ‘new’ direction in the foreign policy and consequently endeavoured to play a larger role in West Asia (Middle East), the Balkans, southern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Africa and Asia. The country has emerged as a multi-regional player having stakes and tractions on a range of issues in these regions. The several discernible aspects of Turkey’s involvement are dealt with in the contributions to this volume.
The essays in this edited volume seek to understand the regional and international ramifications of the wave of protest demonstrations that swept across West Asia and North Africa in the early 2010s, both on the ground and online. Dissatisfaction with political repression and corruption, economic difficulties and inequities, and a desire for freedom and democracy all played a role in the Arab Spring uprisings. It deposed long-standing dictatorships, ushering in a period of insecurity and instability that would have long-term consequences for the region's political economy and international relations. Although the protests have ended, the legacy of that turbulent era will live on, most notably in the acceleration of regional change and transformation. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)
Turkey and Russia are two of the most significant powerhouses in Eurasia. The foreign policies of two countries directly impact the regional dynamics in Black Sea, Central Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Balkan regions. The changes in the bilateral relations between the two countries go well beyond the Black Sea region. In the past, the Russian Empire played a significant role in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey took part in containing the USSR during the Cold War by joining the NATO in 1952. In the twenty-first century, however, Turkey and Russia invested in bilateral trade and established significant partnerships in the strategic defense and energy sectors. In the same period, the competition between Turkey and Russia heightened, giving way to military confrontation in multiple fronts. This book argues that the changing balance of power in the region has triggered adjustments in the foreign policies of Russia and Turkey in the twenty-first century. The decline of the US influence in the region have brought about increased engagement between Turkey and Russia in the form of partnerships and competition for influence.
In 1997 Turkey and Syria were on the brink of war, engaged in a very real power struggle. Turkey was aligned with Syria's main enemy, Israel, and there were seemingly intractable differences on the issues of borders, the sharing of river waters and trans-border communities. In less than a decade, relations were transformed from enmity to amity. Border issues and water sharing quarrels were moving towards amicable settlement and the two states' policies toward the Kurdish issue converging. Turkey undertook to mediate the Syrian-Israeli conflict and close political and economic relations were developing rapidly between the two states. Yet, with the Syrian Uprising, relations returned to enmity...