Theses supervised by Doç. Dr. Ersel Aydınlı
10 theses · İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University
21. yüzyılda Türkiye'nin dış ilişkilerini anlamak: Bir özgün kuramsallaştırma denemesi
For Turkish scholars, understanding especially the last decade of Turkey's international politics has been a great challenge. Answering fundamental questions, -and many others-, requires collection of reliable, complete and uniform data and interpreting them on conceptual terms. The purpose of this thesis is to understand and explain Turkey's international affairs in a holistic way and offer a homegrown model based on original data. Building an original event dataset, this thesis accounts for the empirical observations made out of Turkey's international practice and conceptualizes it as a complex system. It accounts for foreign policy change in complex systems, introduces concepts such as domestic responsivity, domestic, international nodes as well as intermestic and international nexus, and puts forward a helical model of power accumulation, as an outcome of successful foreign policy change.
Türkiye'deki Amerika karşıtlığının kamu diplomasisi ile azaltılması
Mitigating Anti-Americanism in Turkey through Public DiplomacyWatson, ForrestDepartment of International RelationsSupervisor: Assoc. Prof. Ersel AydınlıJune 2007Record-high anti-Americanism in Turkey goes deeper than the ongoing Iraq War. Thebuild-up to and aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Turkey?s neighbor ignited pre-existingsensitivities in Turkey due to its past relations with America and its own identity issuesand fears. Turkey views the U.S. through the lenses of 1) an exaggerated view ofAmerican agency coupled with mistrust and 2) a reactionary phobia about threats toundermine the Turkish Republic. Seen through theses lenses, anti-Americanism is drivenby a perception that America is supporting 1) Kurdish self-determination, which will leadto the eventual dismemberment of Turkey and 2) political Islam as a part of its broaderplan for Middle East politics, which threatens to erode Turkey?s secular state.Because anti-Americanism is mostly based on distorted perceptions caused by the lenses,public diplomacy is an effective tool that should be utilized by the U.S. to bring aboutunderstanding with the Turkish public. If the politically-rooted anti-Americanism inTurkey continues, it will solidify into a view of the U.S. as a threatening power,squandering Turks? natural affection for Americans.U.S. public diplomacy for Turkey can be improved by Washington and the U.S. Embassyin Ankara by acting from an understanding of the uniqueness of Turkey and the reasonsthat drive its anti-Americanism. Reinvigorated public diplomacy offers hope forstrengthening a relationship that is in the best interests of both Turkey and America.Keywords: anti-Americanism, public diplomacy, U.S. Embassy, U.S.-Turkeyrelations, Turkish identity, Kurdish issue, political Islam
Güç dengesi teorisi El Kaide?yle karşı karşıya: Devlet-dışı aktör dengelemesinin postenternasyonal siyasetteki dinamikleri
The bulk of studies on the balance of power, which constitutes balance of power theory, suggest that only states are involved in balance of power dynamics. This thesis maintains that exclusion of non-state actors (NSAs) from balance of power dynamics constitutes a significant gap in balance of power theory. This gap originates from a failure to notice fundamental changes in the structure of, and actorness in, world politics. As a result of these macro level and micro level changes, NSAs became both motivated and capable of balancing against states. This thesis evaluates Al Qaeda?s challenge against the United States as a case study of balancing behavior. A close examination of its discourse reveals that Al Qaeda is motivated to balance against America while mechanisms that it uses demonstrate that the organization is capable of engaging in such balancing. This balancing behavior has not only undermined American power but also appears to be playing a role in global power distribution dynamics in world politics. This thesis is, in short, an attempt to fill the theoretical and empirical gap that exists in balance of power theory. It concludes that the full potential of balance of power theory can be realized only by extending its boundaries to cover the postinternational world structure and thus opening it up to NSAs.
NATO'nun sınırötesi terörizm karşısında dönüşümü
Transnational terrorism with special reference to the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the territory of the United States has significant impacts on NATO?s approach to terrorism at rhetorical, practical and institutional levels. This thesis describes and explains the role of transnational terrorism on NATO?s transformation process, which intensified with the end of Cold War era. The Alliance?s 1991 and 1999 Strategic Concepts already defined terrorism as one of the risks to the Allies? security. However, NATO began to actively engage in fighting against terrorism after the September 11 attacks. Just after 9/11, NATO for the first time in its history invoked Article 5, which is the collective defense clause of the Washington Treaty. Particularly, the Prague Summit held in 2002 has been catalyst for the transformation of Alliance into an organization that is more adaptive to the new security environment where the threats are less likely to be state-centric. In the assessment, until September 11, 2001, terrorism did not have a priority on the NATO?s agenda. Then, after the dramatic assaults, almost every step in the Alliance has been taken in the name of fighting against terrorism. The creation of the NATO Response Force, Terrorist Threat Intelligence Unit and further a new ?Allied Command Transformation? are several examples in this regard. Basically, 9/11 demonstrated that transnational terrorism constitutes a very serious threat even for a super power, nobody is immune from terrorism and the approach to terrorism as a domestic threat is no longer applicable.Key words: new terrorism, NATO and transformation, September 11 attacks, Prague Summit, Afghanistan.
Önce güvenlik yaklaşımı: Singapur ve Azerbaycan örneklerinde güvenliğin öncelikleştirilmesinin nedenleri ve bu öncelikleştirmenin demokrasiye etkisi
The security-democracy relationship is an interesting issue that has drawn scholarly attention. The security first approach is a new input in the field. It looks the issue from the Western foreign policy perspective and discusses what should be done by Western powers in the failed and rogue states to build security and democracy. It claims that first security must be established, and then democracy would gradually consolidate, rather than democracy promotion. Such a shift in Western foreign policy would have significant impact for the developing world, facing the challenge of political-economic development and security-democracy building at the same time. This thesis aims to apply security first approach to developing world. It analyzes the causes of security prioritization and implications of this prioritization on democracy, in the cases of Singapore and Azerbaijan to verify the security first approach?s claims. Both of these countries have applied a security first approach after they gained independence. They have also established some democratic institutional and legal structures. However, the worry of the ruling elites about losing security and power led them constantly delay democratization and restrict political arena. The governments of both cases have been successful in maintaining security and stability, yet this did not give way to the gradual triumph of democracy as argued by security first approach. Western cooperation with the governments of these countries, due to the formers? interest in the stability of both countries and regimes can be argued to have contributed to the security of the states and their ruling elites, but not to the democratization process and the security of the people. Hence, the thesis argues that the discussion in the Western foreign policy should not be about security versus democracy, but rather about striving for security and democracy concurrently in the developing world.
Operasyonal kural analizinin terör örgütü çalışmalarına yararı
Operational code analysis constituting a framework for systematic study ap-pears to inaugurate a long-waited approach aiming at understanding, unfolding and potentially anticipating the motivational and behavioral constitutions of non-state terrorist organizations. However, operational code constructs known so far do not appear to be compact in respect of the methodology, which could be utilized within the studies of operational codes of organizations different than governmental. Into the bargain, the scholarly evolution of operational code analysis presents an inconsistency associated with the interchangeability of indi-vidual and organizational levels of analysis. Addressing these limitations, this thesis seeks to offer an alternative approach by appreciating the instrumentality of beliefs about organizational structure, its potential for determining the style of decision-making and for anticipation of the decision-makers? logic of political ac-tion. This study concludes with a section, which expands the parameters of op-erational code research incorporating a structural context and discussion of its implications for research on terrorism.
Ulusötesicilik ve devlet: Türkiye'nin Türk dünyasına yönelik dış politikası
Transformation in world politics, which is marked by globalization, has led to the emergence of transnational actors. This on the one hand caused different forms of governance to occur and on the other hand resulted in cooperative behavior by states in their interaction with non-state units. This cooperation is a result of the necessity felt by states to incorporate normative issues in their national interests as well as changing identity perceptions of decision-makers. This study focuses on how Turkish foreign policy towards Turkic-speaking states and communities has been influenced by the transnational idea of ?Turkic World? in the post-Cold War era. The explanatory factor or the independent behavior in this case study is the transnational idea of ?Turkic World?, which is advocated by non-state actors. Although the Turkish state distanced itself from the idea of ?Turkic World? in the early Republican period and during the Cold War, it re-emerged in Turkish politics in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. In the last two decades Turkish foreign policy towards the Turkic world has passed through a process evolution; in which stages were rapid entrance in the early 1990s, disappointment in the late 1990s and revision in the 2000s. This evolution includes certain patterns of behavior that indicate that the idea of ?Turkic World? is institutionalizing in Turkish foreign policy. This institutionalization stages indicate that Turkish foreign policy in this case is not only influenced by the geopolitical factor, but by ideational factor, which has driven Turkish decision-makers towards closer political, economic and cultural cooperation with Turkic states.
Transnasyonel terörizmle mücadelede devlet altı yapıların rolünü anlamak: Transnasyonel polis işbirliği uygulamaları örneği
This dissertation is an analysis of the role of sub-state entities in countering transnational terrorism especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which emerged as an alternative option to the traditional security understanding basically shaped by nation states. Emerging practices and roles of sub-state entities in countering terrorism has been investigated to understand both their roles in the counter-terrorrism field and their influence on nation states. Examination of a plethora of existing and newly emerging sub-state practices reveals that such entities have been taking growing roles in the counter-terrorism field, which were previously believed to belong solely to nation states and their relevant international instruments. More importantly, this dissertation proposes that nation states are also trying to adapt themselves to this new emerging counter-terrorism environment enriched by sub-state entities. In that regard, emerging new cooperative police initiatives present valuable examples.
Uluslararası insan kaçakçılığına devletin tepkisi: Rusya ve Türkiye örnekleri
In the aftermath of globalization, it has become increasingly easier for non-state actors to develop in transnational networks, thus jeopardizing domestic security and political stability of states. Studying the influence of transnationalism on non-state actors could help these states develop new strategies of dealing with criminal networks. The present thesis is trying to answer the following research question: ?What is the states? response to transnationalism in terms of their dealing with human trafficking networks?? It examines the way the state is adapting itself to transnational security challenges posed by violent non-state actors (VNSAs). To this end, comparative case studies method is used by means of comparing Russia and Turkey?s responses to human trafficking. The basic conclusion of the author is that Russia and Turkey?s responses to human trafficking have been very different due to the impact of two main factors. First, it is the degree of the international pressure that determined the state?s willingness to take human trafficking challenge seriously. Second, the degree of the state?s success in its anti-trafficking policy is also influenced by the political regime of this state. Thus, international pressure and political regime both have an impact on the state?s response to the transnational security threat of human trafficking.
Demokratikleşmenin dış politika üzerindeki etkileri Türk-İsrail ittifakının yükselişi ve çöküşü
Globalization is affecting state behavior in different ways. The purpose of this study is to understand the ways in which changes in the domestic structures of torn states due to democratization and decentralization and how these affect alliance behavior. By analyzing the Turkish-Israeli alliance through a longitudinal comparative case study comparing system level and state level variables in the 1990s and in the AKP period, the research argues that democratization, which empowers new elites and enables them to articulate and pursue alternative national agendas, leads to unpredictable alliance behavior. The findings suggest that purely systemic theories are not sufficient to address alliances in the contemporary world. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that globalization may be aggravating international anarchy.