Turkey?s strategic culture and new foreign policy: Processes, actors and cases

Turkey has recently become a centre of attraction, deliberation and debate in world politics particularly in relation to its newfound dynamism and activism in foreign policy behavior. Having adopted a vigorous and multidimensional foreign policy approach instead of apathy and traditionalism in foreign policy, Turkey has come to embrace and implement a vital and powerful political position in regional and global politics. The architect of this new foreign policy, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has put to the test a new political vision as a novel approach, which was embraced and criticized by many inside and outside the country.It is in this context that the subject of this study emerges: exploring the practical and theoretical aspects of Turkey?s newfound vision in foreign policy behavior. The thesis introduces the concept of Strategic Culture and employs the theoretical framework of Iain Johnston. Turkey?s new strategic culture and its reflections in foreign policy constitute the main body and study area of the present thesis. The main research questions addressed are divided into two subsections and are as follows:(a) Does Turkey have a distinct Strategic Culture particularly between 2002 and 2010 that can be attributed to Ahmet Davutoğlu?s understanding of international politics? What is the features and specificity of Turkey?s Strategic Culture? What are the relevance of Strategic Culture in understanding Turkey?s newfound vision in foreign policy behavior?(b) In what cases and ways has Turkey?s Strategic Culture affected the practices of its foreign policy?This thesis finds that Turkey has a distinct strategic culture that a) perceives war and conflict as an aberration rather than normal, b) counterbalances security and freedom in its threat perception in a novel scheme, c) prefers to use `soft power? and other foreign policy tools such as economy-developmentalism and multilateralism d) shapes Turkey?s foreign policy approach in regional and global politics.