"Transformational shifts" in Turkish foreign policy under jdp rule: A constructivist analysis

Justice and Development Party (JDP), as the sole incumbent force for the last decade and a half, has proven to be an influential political actor with its power and capability to shape-shift the domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Turkey. JDP, with its transformative qualities, holds a unique position in Turkish political life. Moreover, JDP, through instrumentalism and expediency, seems to shape the present and the future of Turkish politics, be it foreign or domestic. JDP, founding its ideational policy on constructivism, appears to be adamant over reconstructing the Turkish society in line with its own value and identity-based foreign policy orientation that has become increasingly convergent with the domestic. Within this context, this work analyses the transformation of the Turkish society through a constructivist perspective in the context of a "transformational shift" from the "traditional" experienced throughout the JDP tenure. The transformation of the "new" Turkish domestic politics and its foreign policy under JDP points to a relative "transformational shift", that bears reconstructionist characteristics, the roots of which can be traced back to the late Ottoman and the Republican periods that have been subjected to an on-going "transformational shifts", an inherent character of the Turkish political tradition. In this sense, JDP's "new" policy orientation is scrutinized through a constructivist lens to examine the entrenched "clash of identities" between the Islamists and the secularists in Turkish politics. Key Words: JDP, constructivism, transformational shift, traditional, new, foreign policy, domestic, convergent, instrumentalism and expediency, value, clash of identities secularists, Islamists.