Reaktif devletleri reforme etmek: Yunan ve Türk Krizlerinin karşılaştırmalı siyasi iktisadı

I think writing a PhD dissertation very much resembles the situation described by Tocqueville. It is a long journey full of impediments, hopes, and frustrations. I am grateful to many people, scholars and colleagues, who helped me navigate my way in the midst of things during this PhD research. First and foremost, I struggle for sufficient words to express my deepest gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Professor Ziya Öniş. Professor Öniş guided me through all these years. I am more than thankful for his excellent guidance, insightful comments, encouraging feedback, and tireless support at all stages of my PhD education. More importantly, however, Professor Öniş instilled in me deeply the notion that cutting-edge scholarship does not only require 'fair competition' but also an open mind for cooperation, deliberation, genuine respect for pluralism, and academic modesty. I have always been and will remain honored and very proud of being his research assistant and PhD student. Second, I would like to thank my co-advisor Professor Caner Bakır for providing substantial comments and feedback at various stages of my research. His feedback helped me a lot in finding my way along the 'messy center' of comparative political economy. Third, I express my gratitude to my thesis committee members. Professor M. Fatih Tayfur has always placed a strong support and trust in me. I have the privilege of having known Professor Tayfur from my undergraduate years during which his excellence, passion, and meticulous scholarship inspired me to be a student of international political economy. In fact, he did not only teach me the fundamentals of international political economy but also helped me discover the magic of academia. I would like to express my special thanks to Professor Şuhnaz Yılmaz Özbağcı for her constructive comments and feedback, continual encouragement and very precious support. I am also grateful to Professor Zühre Aksoy as she agreed to join my dissertation committee at a critical point and provided valuable feedback. Fourth, I am grateful to the external examiners of my dissertation committee: Professor E. Fuat Keyman and Professor Sadık Ünay. Professor Keyman has always been a source of inspiration for me as a student of international politics with his pioneering books and articles advocating multi-discipliner approach to social sciences. Professor Keyman also backed me at crucial turning points of my professional career path. Similarly, Professor Sadık Ünay enlarged my intellectual horizons by virtue of his illuminating studies on Turkey's comparative political economy and our conversations spanned over the couple of years. I am therefore very grateful to both Professor Keyman and Professor Ünay for their support and encouragement. v Fifth, part of this research was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) scholarship (2214-A, Yurtdışı Doktora Sırası Araştırma Burs Programı) thanks to which I spent one year at Royal Holloway University of London. I had the opportunity to work with Professor Chris Rumford from Royal Holloway. I also had the opportunity to use the amazing libraries of London School of Economics and King's College London and frequently consult the distinguished experts of the Hellenic Observatory at LSE. I presented different parts of my thesis at LSE, ODTÜ, British Institute at Athens, International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) in Ankara. Sixth, I would like to extend my appreciation to Professor İhsan Bal, Ambassador Özdem Sanberk, Turkish Embassy in Athens, Dr Altay Atlı, and many others whose names I cannot mention here for providing crucial contacts, sharing valuable ideas and offering motivating feedback at various stages of this research. I deeply appreciate that Professor Bal provided enough space to concentrate on my research at critical turning points over the last four years. I am also very grateful to Taisiya Tsebieva, who helped me draft a more readable manuscript. Apart from this, Taisiya (or, what we call her, Taya) turned out to be a great friend from whom I learned many things about friendship, generosity, and modesty. I want to thank to Öznur Keleş for her superb assistance. She helped a lot whenever I needed her support. Last but not least, I am heavily indebted to my wife, Muzaffer, for being so supportive and altruistic through the ups and downs of my PhD thesis. I sometimes spent stressful days in London during the writing phase of this dissertation. In those long days, she always shared my concerns and used creative ways to help me overcome the circumstantial ebb and flow. I can only say that my gratitude to her is beyond words.