The place of Black sea security in NATO's identity formation

The end of the bipolar system, in the face of profound changes in the international system, the analysis of the basic proposition and analysis units of the leading theories of the period, explaining the process and not foreseeing the developments, caused serious criticism to develop in the discipline of international relations. The end of the ideologically based bipolar system has resulted in the emergence of new theoretical propositions in the discipline of international relations, analyzing the behavior of actors and explaining in the final processes of the Cold War, the concept of identity began to address how actors' behavior and foreign policy approaches were built. There has been an increase in the number of studies that consider the concept of post-Cold War identity as a basic analysis unit. Outside of the discipline of international relations, identity-based studies have emerged in many areas of social sciences. In the aftermath of the Cold War, objections to the prevailing theories of the period caused the emergence of critical new theories. Social construction and poststructure theories, which make their basic theoretical propositions through identity by addressing the concept of identity, made important theoretical approaches during this period. By centering on the concept of identity, both theories examined the behavior of actors in their international disciplines and foreign policy making processes, suggested their theoretical propositions through identity and drew their theories within the framework of identity. Social building theory has claimed that actors determine their interests through norms, values, ideas and then enter identity building processes through these values, and that mutually can built values return to collective identities. The theory of poststructuralism, on the other hand, suggests that actors' identity fictions are built from the thinking, rhetorically, and that each identity creates an opposing identity. Social building theory, while reassing positive values to the concept of identity, highlights collective identities. Poststructure theory claims that identities create other and hostile identities built through constantly constructed processes, opposing discourses, and place negative values on the concept of identity. Since its establishment, NATO has had a two-structured identity, political and defence, and has provided representation of Western identity through these two structures. Building its defence and political identity through common values, norms, ideas, NATO has helped create collective identity among its members in the alliance. In the face of the change in the international system after the Cold War, NATO carried out the processes of change in its defence and political identity. During the changes in identity structure, he maintained the structure of his collective identity and tried to harmonate the identity structure with new construction processes against changes in the international system and new security problems. NATO, which has become an official representative of Western identity, has also prepared the opposite identity fiction, rhetorical and political ground through "us" and "others". The Black Sea region has been an important post-Cold War region with its strategic location, the transit route of energy lines, connecting many regions. The Black Sea, which has an important position within the European security architecture, also contains many complex and multifaceted problems. NATO, which emerged as the most important actor in the post-Cold War region, addressed the security of the Black Sea with its Western identity approach on the basis of its political and defensive identity. Accompanied by complex and challenging problems, NATO has brought the approach to Black Sea security to many challenges. The thesis discussed NATO through the concept of identity and analyzed it within the framework of social construction and poststructuralism theories, and discussed the rhetorical and thought-based expression of NATO's identity in the context of its relationship with identity security, what values, norms and ideas it was built on, the construction processes and changes in its identity structure, and the place of Black Sea security in NATO's identity structure.