İrem Aşkar Karakır | Dokuz Eylül University (original) (raw)
Papers by İrem Aşkar Karakır
Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2016
Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope wit... more Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope with new challenges, this paper raises the question of whether the EU will assume greater responsibility for peace, especially in its neighborhood, in the short-term. It contributes to answering this question through focusing on EU mechanisms, instruments and policies of crisis management (civilian-military) since the 1990s, which is embodied in the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). In March 2015, the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented a report on CSDP indicating problems in crisis management. Yet, the EU strives for efficient activities. It considered reviewing its neighborhood policy as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to enable more effective actions to deal with crises. Today, it has a huge “toolbox” to address crises. The EU attaches great importance to a coherent and comprehensive strategy in crisis situations. Observing that a comprehensive strategy of the EU was launched in early 2015 to deal with the crisis in Syria, this paper questions to what extent the EU’s new arguments for crisis management are realized in its regional strategy for Syria. While the Syrian crisis is still unfolding, its impacts on the EU in the form of rising terror attacks in Europe by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and an unprecedented influx of migrants are remarkable. Keywords: EU, crisis management, CSDP, Syria, EU foreign policy
Ege Akademik Bakis (Ege Academic Review), 2011
The AK Party government's Middle Eastern approach indicated a change from those of previous gover... more The AK Party government's Middle Eastern approach indicated a change from those of previous governments. Whilst aiming to conduct an active and influential political role in the Middle East, they have attempted to achieve 'zero problems' in their relations with neighbors as well as closer contact. This article examines Turkey's relations with one of the states in the region-Iran. Under modified regional policy, the Turkish government aimed to maintain and expand relations with Iran. Particularly, strategic calculations on security, energy and economy are influential in transformation of the Turkish attitude towards Iran. At the same time, Iran appears willing to improve relations with Turkey for pragmatic reasons. What is evident for both countries is that though they both are tempting to improve mutual relations, they are at the same time searching ways to consolidate their regional role. In this connection, this article argues that there is a pragmatic rapprochement between the two countries.
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi Dergisi, 2015
Uluslararasi Iliskiler disiplinindeki baslica guncel calisma alanlarindan bir tanesi de farkli ya... more Uluslararasi Iliskiler disiplinindeki baslica guncel calisma alanlarindan bir tanesi de farkli yaklasimlar barindiran normatif kuramdir. Iki tane baslica yaklasim vardir: 1980’lerdeki felsefi tartismalara dayanan Kozmopolitan yaklasim ve Toplulukcu yaklasim. Ucuncu bir grup 1990’li yillarin basindan beri bu ayrimi sorgulamaktadir. Bu makalenin amaci, Kozmopolitan-Toplulukcu ikilem hakkindaki son otuz yildir devam etmekte olan kuramsal literaturu elestirel olarak incelemektir. Bu makalede, zor oldugu kabul edilmekle birlikte ucuncu bir yaklasimin olabilecegi iddia edilmektedir. Ozellikle Kozmopolitan yaklasimdaki ahlaksal ve siyasal olmak uzere ikili ayrima odaklanilarak, ucuncu bir yaklasimin olabilirligi ve bununla beraber evrensel ahlak olasiligi arastirilmaktadir
Ege Akademik Bakis (Ege Academic Review), 2010
This article analyzes if a change in domestic political dynamics might lead to a change of attitu... more This article analyzes if a change in domestic political dynamics might lead to a change of attitude toward abandoning Iranian nuclear programme, focusing on the attitudes of Iranian political factions, namely radical conservatives, pragmatic conservatives and reformists toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Presently, there is a common agreement among the political factions on how to continue on nuclear programme. Though this difference among attitudes is known, there has not been much literature on this issue. The article aims to show that even though there might be a change in the inner political dynamics, it would be a mistake to expect a great change in the official policy of Iran on nuclear programme. Iran will not halt its nuclear programme. The article argues that with the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in the June 2009 presidential elections, in the short-term, there will not be any change in Iran"s official attitude regarding its nuclear programme. Besides in the long-term, it is underlined that even if Ahmedinejad administration might be replaced by "reformists", Iran will not abandon its aim to achieve nuclear power, only there may be moderation in Iran"s official rhetoric, and negotiations with the international community might improve.
Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, 2015
Arap Bahari surecinde, ulkelerine siyasi ozgurlukler ve temel haklari getirmek amaciyla gercekles... more Arap Bahari surecinde, ulkelerine siyasi ozgurlukler ve temel haklari getirmek amaciyla gerceklesen eylemlere onemli olcude destek veren Arap kadinlari devrimleri takip eden surecte yeni kurulan hukumetlerde siyasetten dislanmis ve otoriter yonetimler sirasinda sahip olduklari haklari dahi kaybetmislerdir. Makale bu celiskili durumu inceleyebilmek icin karsilastirmali siyasetin uc arastirma yontemine (yapisal, kulturel ve rasyonel secim yaklasimlarina) basvurmustur. Yapisal yaklasimla, gecis surecinde olusturulmaya calisilan anayasa gibi kurumlarin ve kurumsal yapilarin kadin haklari uzerindeki etkisine odaklanilirken; kulturel analizle ataerkil yapilarin, dinin ve Islamcilarin basa gecmesinin kadinlarin ozgurluklerini kisitlamasi konusundaki etkisi ele alinmistir. Ayrica rasyonel secim yaklasimi ile incelenen ulkelerde ic savasin sonlandirilmasi, guvenligin saglanmasi ve ekonomik krizlerin cozumu gibi oncelikleri olan konular varken kadin haklarina fazla onem verilmemesi konusu aciklanmaya calisilmistir. Makalede Misir, Tunus, Yemen ve Libya’daki Arap Bahari oncesi ve sonrasindaki kadin haklari konulari ozellikle kadinin siyasi temsili uzerine odaklanilarak karsilastirmali olarak analiz edilecektir. Calisma soz konusu ulkelerdeki yeni rejimlerin, kulturel ve yapisal olarak kadin haklarini fazla desteklememesine ilaveten gecis surecine dair daha acil sorunlarla ugrasilmasi nedeniyle kadinlarin siyasi haklarinda iyilesme elde edilemedigini one surmektedir.
TESAM Akademi Dergisi, 2018
It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leadin... more It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leading to high political instability and severe humanitarian crisis. This article elaborates on the civil war in Yemen by focusing on the interests of main actors, who are involved in the ongoing conflict. The article also evaluates the nature of civil war in Yemen, mainly questioning the liability of describing the tension as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In recent years, there has been a tendency to explain Yemeni conflict through the lens of a religious struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’a Iran in order to reinforce their control over the region. It is argued in this study that it would be misleading to call Yemen’s ongoing crisis as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The tension did not emerge as a result of clash of interests by these two countries. Rather it would be fair to suggest that involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen’s civil war further trig...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2022
China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national inter... more China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national interests based on energy security, arms exports, and technology transfers. To complement its interest-driven regional policies, China has expanded its diplomatic contacts and promoted cultural ties. Over the last two decades, China has also engaged in conflict management in several regional issues, despite its declared commitment to nonintervention in other countries’ domestic affairs. This article aims to analyze China’s conflict management policies in the region, focusing on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran’s nuclear program and the Syrian conflict. Compared with other major external powers, prospects for China’s conflict management seem high given two significant advantages. First, unlike Western powers or Russia, China has not left any bitter taste in the region associated with colonialism, religious or historical engagement. Secondly, China has been careful not to take clear-cut s...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2022
China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national inte... more China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national interests based on energy security, arms exports, and technology transfers. To complement its interest-driven regional policies, China has expanded its diplomatic contacts and promoted cultural ties. Over the last two decades, China has also engaged in conflict management in several regional issues, despite its declared commitment to nonintervention in other countries’ domestic affairs. This article aims to analyze China’s conflict management policies in the region, focusing on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran’s nuclear program and the Syrian conflict. Compared with other major external powers, prospects for China’s conflict management seem high given two significant advantages. First, unlike Western powers or Russia, China has not left any bitter taste in the region associated with colonialism, religious or historical engagement. Secondly, China has been careful not to take clear-cut sides in regional conflicts, making itself an ideal candidate to act as an honest broker. It is argued that despite these advantages, Chinese conflict management in the region has remained considerably modest and lacked any practical solutions to the critical problems.
Journal of International and Area Studies, 2021
This article elaborates on the theoretical foundations as well as the empirical outputs of climat... more This article elaborates on the theoretical foundations as well as the empirical outputs of climaterelated migration and formulates a contemporary framework in analyzing this subject. There has been a paradigm shift from securitizing climate-related migration towards an emphasis on adaptation, resilience and justice. While it is still possible to talk about security-oriented discourses based on the realist approach, climate change has increasingly been recognized as a 'threat multiplier' rather than a sole primary threat. In the meantime, the liberal approach has embraced adaptation, resilience and climate justice discourses about climate refugees. On the empirical front, climate-related migration is observed mainly in South Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
TESAM Akademi, 2018
It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leadin... more It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leading to high political instability and severe humanitarian crisis. This article elaborates on the civil war in Yemen by focusing on the interests of main actors, who are involved in the ongoing conflict. The article also evaluates the nature of civil war in Yemen, mainly questioning the liability of describing the tension as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In recent years, there has been a tendency to explain Yemeni conflict through the lens of a religious struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'a Iran in order to reinforce their control over the region. It is argued in this study that it would be misleading to call Yemen's ongoing crisis as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The tension did not emerge as a result of clash of interests by these two countries. Rather it would be fair to suggest that involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen's civil war further triggered and complicated the already existing tensions in the country. The outcome is a complex pattern of conflict which the author of this article argues is indeed different from a proxy war.
Joseph S. Nye defined soft power as the power of attraction to affect the behavior of other state... more Joseph S. Nye defined soft power as the power of attraction to affect the behavior of other states through the use of non-coercive instruments including culture, political values and foreign policy. Over the last two decades, environmental issues have grown in importance on the international agenda and become critical components of states’ foreign policy-making. This paper aims to analyze environmental foreign policy as a soft power instrument focusing on two major rising powers: China and India. Traditionally, China and India had been reluctant to make any commitments in the field. However, they have shown greater willingness to act in global environmental governance in the past decade. They started playing more active roles in global climate change negotiations and supported a number of initiatives. Their current rise in global environmental governance has even been praised by the international community as the Paris agreement case demonstrated. This study evaluates China’s and India’s recent efforts in global environmental governance with a focus on climate change negotiations linking their constructive position to their soft power potential. It is argued that environmental issues are used by these two states as foreign policy strategy to gain more influence in international politics. This study finds out that China’s climate-related environmental diplomacy has been more ambitious than that of India and thus has been closer to fulfill its potential as a soft power asset.
Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope wit... more Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope with new challenges, this paper raises the question of whether the EU will assume greater responsibility for peace, especially in its neighborhood, in the short-term. It contributes to answering this question through focusing on EU mechanisms, instruments and policies of crisis management (civilian-military) since the 1990s, which is embodied in the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). In March 2015, the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented a report on CSDP indicating problems in crisis management. Yet, the EU strives for efficient activities. It considered reviewing its neighborhood policy as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to enable more effective actions to deal with crises. Today, it has a huge “toolbox” to address crises. The EU attaches great importance to a coherent and comprehensive strategy in crisis situations. Observing that a comprehensive strategy of the EU was launched in early 2015 to deal with the crisis in Syria, this paper questions to what extent the EU’s new arguments for crisis management are realized in its regional strategy for Syria. While the Syrian crisis is still unfolding, its impacts on the EU in the form of rising terror attacks in Europe by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and an unprecedented influx of migrants are remarkable.
Keywords: EU, crisis management, CSDP, Syria, EU foreign policy
Öz Arap Baharı sürecinde, ülkelerine siyasi özgürlükler ve temel hakları getirmek amacıyla gerçek... more Öz Arap Baharı sürecinde, ülkelerine siyasi özgürlükler ve temel hakları getirmek amacıyla gerçekleşen eylemlere önemli ölçüde destek veren Arap kadınları devrimleri takip eden süreçte yeni kurulan hükümetlerde siyasetten dışlanmış ve otoriter yönetimler sırasında sahip oldukları hakları dahi kaybetmişlerdir. Makale bu çelişkili durumu inceleyebilmek için karşılaştırmalı siyasetin üç araştırma yöntemine (yapısal, kültürel ve rasyonel seçim yaklaşımlarına) başvurmuştur. Yapısal yaklaşımla, geçiş sürecinde oluşturulmaya çalışılan anayasa gibi kurumların ve kurumsal yapıların kadın hakları üzerindeki etkisine odaklanılırken; kültürel analizle ataerkil yapıların, dinin ve İslamcıların başa geçmesinin kadınların özgürlüklerini kısıtlaması konusundaki etkisi ele alınmıştır. Ayrıca rasyonel seçim yaklaşımı ile incelenen ülkelerde iç savaşın sonlandırılması, güvenliğin sağlanması ve ekonomik krizlerin çözümü gibi öncelikleri olan konular varken kadın haklarına fazla önem verilmemesi konusu açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Makalede Mısır, Tunus, Yemen ve Libya'daki Arap Baharı öncesi ve sonrasındaki kadın hakları konuları özellikle kadının siyasi temsili üzerine odaklanılarak karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz edilecektir. Çalışma söz konusu ülkelerdeki yeni rejimlerin, kültürel ve yapısal olarak kadın haklarını fazla desteklememesine ilaveten geçiş sürecine dair daha acil sorunlarla uğraşılması nedeniyle kadınların siyasi haklarında iyileşme elde edilemediğini öne sürmektedir. Abstract Arab women who supported the protests of the Arab Spring, which attempted to bring political rights and civil liberties to their countries, found themselves isolated from the transition process in the aftermath of the revolutions. Moreover, Arab women have even lost the rights they received during the rule of the former authoritarian leaders. This article in an attempt to analyze this conflicting situation and will refer to three research methods of comparative politics: structural, cultural and rational choice approaches. By referring to structural analysis, the study looks at the impact of institutions such as the constitution and the institutional structures on women's rights. Through a cultural analysis, it concentrates on how the patriarchal life style, religion and Islamists in power constrained women's rights. By referring to a rational choice approach, the study argues that new regimes – while prioritizing the issues such as ending the war, providing security and resolving the economic crisis – have not paid much attention to women's rights. The article will concentrate on women's rights and political representation prior to and in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. The article will argue that there has not been much improvement in women's rights in four countries as a result of cultural and structural reasons, as well as the rational choices.
This paper discusses EU-Turkey relations with a specific reference to regional developments in th... more This paper discusses EU-Turkey relations with a specific reference to regional developments in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. In the last decade, the Turkish government has tried to intensify Turkey's influence in the region. However, increasing activism in Turkey's foreign policy toward the region was not accompanied by a parallel commitment in its relations with the EU. In the meantime, the EU was caught unprepared by the Arab Spring in the middle of the Euro-zone crisis, and now its strategic interests are being threatened by regional instability. Both sides have been faced with the task of adapting their policies to the political transitions in the region. After an analysis of their contemporary regional policies, this article argues that even though their strategies are not totally in line with each other, Turkey follows the same objectives that the EU neighborhood policy has pursued towards the Middle East.
The outbreak of pro-reform demonstrations in the Arab Middle East has not only raised questions o... more The outbreak of pro-reform demonstrations in the Arab Middle East has not only raised questions on the underlying internal dynamics, but also raised questions about EU's role as an external normative actor. Although the EU has long presented itself as a moral power in its southern neighborhood, there has been an inconsistency between what is being presented by the EU and its actual policies. Thus, eruption of the Arab uprisings has signified not only the failure of authoritarian ruling regimes, but also of the EU policies across the region. This article analyzes how the EU democracy promotion policies have influenced political liberalization/deliberalization in Egypt and Morocco since the early 2000s and elaborates on how the Arab Spring unfolded in Egypt and Morocco and the EU's response to its political consequences in these two states. It is argued that while an external actor such as the EU has a remarkable potential to influence process of political liberalization in Arab states such as Egypt and Morocco, democracy cannot be imposed from outside in the absence of meaningful pro-reform demand in the domestic context. Still, European support is viewed as more critical than ever for Arab countries undergoing transition. In addition, it underlines the difficulty to define the EU as a genuinely normative power when its democracy promotion policies towards regional states are taken into account in the past decade.
Although there is enormous discussion on normative power Europe, there is relatively less focus o... more Although there is enormous discussion on normative power Europe, there is relatively less focus on the EU sanctions regime, though sanctions have become a useful foreign policy tool as the EU has applied sanctions within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Looking at the literature, Kreutz focused on the EU sanctions regime in the time period of 1981-2004, during which sanctions were used to accomplish normative goals. Yet, later on Brummer argued that although norms and values still play a role in the EU's sanctions regime, more often they were surpassed by security and economic interests. This article examines the previous work on the EU sanctions regime and tries to comprehend why the use of sanctions has increased over time as well as whether they have been "selectively" used. In addition, the article analyzes whether the normative commitment is crucial in the construction of the EU sanctions regime. The EU sanctions regime toward Iran is analyzed in particular, because as indicated by Santini and Tabrizi, Iran is the first country against which the EU has developed a new strategy out of weapons of mass destruction concerns, starting in 2006. Since 2010, EU foreign ministers have adopted tougher sanctions in an effort to block its controversial nuclear program. Recently, the Iran nuclear deal of November 2013 was interpreted as attributable to sanctions against Iran, in which EU sanctions have constituted a remarkable role, have proven effective.
Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2016
Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope wit... more Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope with new challenges, this paper raises the question of whether the EU will assume greater responsibility for peace, especially in its neighborhood, in the short-term. It contributes to answering this question through focusing on EU mechanisms, instruments and policies of crisis management (civilian-military) since the 1990s, which is embodied in the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). In March 2015, the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented a report on CSDP indicating problems in crisis management. Yet, the EU strives for efficient activities. It considered reviewing its neighborhood policy as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to enable more effective actions to deal with crises. Today, it has a huge “toolbox” to address crises. The EU attaches great importance to a coherent and comprehensive strategy in crisis situations. Observing that a comprehensive strategy of the EU was launched in early 2015 to deal with the crisis in Syria, this paper questions to what extent the EU’s new arguments for crisis management are realized in its regional strategy for Syria. While the Syrian crisis is still unfolding, its impacts on the EU in the form of rising terror attacks in Europe by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and an unprecedented influx of migrants are remarkable. Keywords: EU, crisis management, CSDP, Syria, EU foreign policy
Ege Akademik Bakis (Ege Academic Review), 2011
The AK Party government's Middle Eastern approach indicated a change from those of previous gover... more The AK Party government's Middle Eastern approach indicated a change from those of previous governments. Whilst aiming to conduct an active and influential political role in the Middle East, they have attempted to achieve 'zero problems' in their relations with neighbors as well as closer contact. This article examines Turkey's relations with one of the states in the region-Iran. Under modified regional policy, the Turkish government aimed to maintain and expand relations with Iran. Particularly, strategic calculations on security, energy and economy are influential in transformation of the Turkish attitude towards Iran. At the same time, Iran appears willing to improve relations with Turkey for pragmatic reasons. What is evident for both countries is that though they both are tempting to improve mutual relations, they are at the same time searching ways to consolidate their regional role. In this connection, this article argues that there is a pragmatic rapprochement between the two countries.
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi Dergisi, 2015
Uluslararasi Iliskiler disiplinindeki baslica guncel calisma alanlarindan bir tanesi de farkli ya... more Uluslararasi Iliskiler disiplinindeki baslica guncel calisma alanlarindan bir tanesi de farkli yaklasimlar barindiran normatif kuramdir. Iki tane baslica yaklasim vardir: 1980’lerdeki felsefi tartismalara dayanan Kozmopolitan yaklasim ve Toplulukcu yaklasim. Ucuncu bir grup 1990’li yillarin basindan beri bu ayrimi sorgulamaktadir. Bu makalenin amaci, Kozmopolitan-Toplulukcu ikilem hakkindaki son otuz yildir devam etmekte olan kuramsal literaturu elestirel olarak incelemektir. Bu makalede, zor oldugu kabul edilmekle birlikte ucuncu bir yaklasimin olabilecegi iddia edilmektedir. Ozellikle Kozmopolitan yaklasimdaki ahlaksal ve siyasal olmak uzere ikili ayrima odaklanilarak, ucuncu bir yaklasimin olabilirligi ve bununla beraber evrensel ahlak olasiligi arastirilmaktadir
Ege Akademik Bakis (Ege Academic Review), 2010
This article analyzes if a change in domestic political dynamics might lead to a change of attitu... more This article analyzes if a change in domestic political dynamics might lead to a change of attitude toward abandoning Iranian nuclear programme, focusing on the attitudes of Iranian political factions, namely radical conservatives, pragmatic conservatives and reformists toward the Iranian nuclear programme. Presently, there is a common agreement among the political factions on how to continue on nuclear programme. Though this difference among attitudes is known, there has not been much literature on this issue. The article aims to show that even though there might be a change in the inner political dynamics, it would be a mistake to expect a great change in the official policy of Iran on nuclear programme. Iran will not halt its nuclear programme. The article argues that with the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in the June 2009 presidential elections, in the short-term, there will not be any change in Iran"s official attitude regarding its nuclear programme. Besides in the long-term, it is underlined that even if Ahmedinejad administration might be replaced by "reformists", Iran will not abandon its aim to achieve nuclear power, only there may be moderation in Iran"s official rhetoric, and negotiations with the international community might improve.
Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, 2015
Arap Bahari surecinde, ulkelerine siyasi ozgurlukler ve temel haklari getirmek amaciyla gercekles... more Arap Bahari surecinde, ulkelerine siyasi ozgurlukler ve temel haklari getirmek amaciyla gerceklesen eylemlere onemli olcude destek veren Arap kadinlari devrimleri takip eden surecte yeni kurulan hukumetlerde siyasetten dislanmis ve otoriter yonetimler sirasinda sahip olduklari haklari dahi kaybetmislerdir. Makale bu celiskili durumu inceleyebilmek icin karsilastirmali siyasetin uc arastirma yontemine (yapisal, kulturel ve rasyonel secim yaklasimlarina) basvurmustur. Yapisal yaklasimla, gecis surecinde olusturulmaya calisilan anayasa gibi kurumlarin ve kurumsal yapilarin kadin haklari uzerindeki etkisine odaklanilirken; kulturel analizle ataerkil yapilarin, dinin ve Islamcilarin basa gecmesinin kadinlarin ozgurluklerini kisitlamasi konusundaki etkisi ele alinmistir. Ayrica rasyonel secim yaklasimi ile incelenen ulkelerde ic savasin sonlandirilmasi, guvenligin saglanmasi ve ekonomik krizlerin cozumu gibi oncelikleri olan konular varken kadin haklarina fazla onem verilmemesi konusu aciklanmaya calisilmistir. Makalede Misir, Tunus, Yemen ve Libya’daki Arap Bahari oncesi ve sonrasindaki kadin haklari konulari ozellikle kadinin siyasi temsili uzerine odaklanilarak karsilastirmali olarak analiz edilecektir. Calisma soz konusu ulkelerdeki yeni rejimlerin, kulturel ve yapisal olarak kadin haklarini fazla desteklememesine ilaveten gecis surecine dair daha acil sorunlarla ugrasilmasi nedeniyle kadinlarin siyasi haklarinda iyilesme elde edilemedigini one surmektedir.
TESAM Akademi Dergisi, 2018
It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leadin... more It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leading to high political instability and severe humanitarian crisis. This article elaborates on the civil war in Yemen by focusing on the interests of main actors, who are involved in the ongoing conflict. The article also evaluates the nature of civil war in Yemen, mainly questioning the liability of describing the tension as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In recent years, there has been a tendency to explain Yemeni conflict through the lens of a religious struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’a Iran in order to reinforce their control over the region. It is argued in this study that it would be misleading to call Yemen’s ongoing crisis as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The tension did not emerge as a result of clash of interests by these two countries. Rather it would be fair to suggest that involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen’s civil war further trig...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2022
China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national inter... more China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national interests based on energy security, arms exports, and technology transfers. To complement its interest-driven regional policies, China has expanded its diplomatic contacts and promoted cultural ties. Over the last two decades, China has also engaged in conflict management in several regional issues, despite its declared commitment to nonintervention in other countries’ domestic affairs. This article aims to analyze China’s conflict management policies in the region, focusing on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran’s nuclear program and the Syrian conflict. Compared with other major external powers, prospects for China’s conflict management seem high given two significant advantages. First, unlike Western powers or Russia, China has not left any bitter taste in the region associated with colonialism, religious or historical engagement. Secondly, China has been careful not to take clear-cut s...
Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2022
China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national inte... more China’s foreign policy toward the Middle East has traditionally been shaped by its national interests based on energy security, arms exports, and technology transfers. To complement its interest-driven regional policies, China has expanded its diplomatic contacts and promoted cultural ties. Over the last two decades, China has also engaged in conflict management in several regional issues, despite its declared commitment to nonintervention in other countries’ domestic affairs. This article aims to analyze China’s conflict management policies in the region, focusing on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Iran’s nuclear program and the Syrian conflict. Compared with other major external powers, prospects for China’s conflict management seem high given two significant advantages. First, unlike Western powers or Russia, China has not left any bitter taste in the region associated with colonialism, religious or historical engagement. Secondly, China has been careful not to take clear-cut sides in regional conflicts, making itself an ideal candidate to act as an honest broker. It is argued that despite these advantages, Chinese conflict management in the region has remained considerably modest and lacked any practical solutions to the critical problems.
Journal of International and Area Studies, 2021
This article elaborates on the theoretical foundations as well as the empirical outputs of climat... more This article elaborates on the theoretical foundations as well as the empirical outputs of climaterelated migration and formulates a contemporary framework in analyzing this subject. There has been a paradigm shift from securitizing climate-related migration towards an emphasis on adaptation, resilience and justice. While it is still possible to talk about security-oriented discourses based on the realist approach, climate change has increasingly been recognized as a 'threat multiplier' rather than a sole primary threat. In the meantime, the liberal approach has embraced adaptation, resilience and climate justice discourses about climate refugees. On the empirical front, climate-related migration is observed mainly in South Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
TESAM Akademi, 2018
It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leadin... more It has been almost three years since the eruption of the civil war in Yemen by March 2015, leading to high political instability and severe humanitarian crisis. This article elaborates on the civil war in Yemen by focusing on the interests of main actors, who are involved in the ongoing conflict. The article also evaluates the nature of civil war in Yemen, mainly questioning the liability of describing the tension as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In recent years, there has been a tendency to explain Yemeni conflict through the lens of a religious struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'a Iran in order to reinforce their control over the region. It is argued in this study that it would be misleading to call Yemen's ongoing crisis as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The tension did not emerge as a result of clash of interests by these two countries. Rather it would be fair to suggest that involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Yemen's civil war further triggered and complicated the already existing tensions in the country. The outcome is a complex pattern of conflict which the author of this article argues is indeed different from a proxy war.
Joseph S. Nye defined soft power as the power of attraction to affect the behavior of other state... more Joseph S. Nye defined soft power as the power of attraction to affect the behavior of other states through the use of non-coercive instruments including culture, political values and foreign policy. Over the last two decades, environmental issues have grown in importance on the international agenda and become critical components of states’ foreign policy-making. This paper aims to analyze environmental foreign policy as a soft power instrument focusing on two major rising powers: China and India. Traditionally, China and India had been reluctant to make any commitments in the field. However, they have shown greater willingness to act in global environmental governance in the past decade. They started playing more active roles in global climate change negotiations and supported a number of initiatives. Their current rise in global environmental governance has even been praised by the international community as the Paris agreement case demonstrated. This study evaluates China’s and India’s recent efforts in global environmental governance with a focus on climate change negotiations linking their constructive position to their soft power potential. It is argued that environmental issues are used by these two states as foreign policy strategy to gain more influence in international politics. This study finds out that China’s climate-related environmental diplomacy has been more ambitious than that of India and thus has been closer to fulfill its potential as a soft power asset.
Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope wit... more Based on the commonly held assumptions about the inability of the European Union (EU) to cope with new challenges, this paper raises the question of whether the EU will assume greater responsibility for peace, especially in its neighborhood, in the short-term. It contributes to answering this question through focusing on EU mechanisms, instruments and policies of crisis management (civilian-military) since the 1990s, which is embodied in the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). In March 2015, the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented a report on CSDP indicating problems in crisis management. Yet, the EU strives for efficient activities. It considered reviewing its neighborhood policy as well as Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to enable more effective actions to deal with crises. Today, it has a huge “toolbox” to address crises. The EU attaches great importance to a coherent and comprehensive strategy in crisis situations. Observing that a comprehensive strategy of the EU was launched in early 2015 to deal with the crisis in Syria, this paper questions to what extent the EU’s new arguments for crisis management are realized in its regional strategy for Syria. While the Syrian crisis is still unfolding, its impacts on the EU in the form of rising terror attacks in Europe by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and an unprecedented influx of migrants are remarkable.
Keywords: EU, crisis management, CSDP, Syria, EU foreign policy
Öz Arap Baharı sürecinde, ülkelerine siyasi özgürlükler ve temel hakları getirmek amacıyla gerçek... more Öz Arap Baharı sürecinde, ülkelerine siyasi özgürlükler ve temel hakları getirmek amacıyla gerçekleşen eylemlere önemli ölçüde destek veren Arap kadınları devrimleri takip eden süreçte yeni kurulan hükümetlerde siyasetten dışlanmış ve otoriter yönetimler sırasında sahip oldukları hakları dahi kaybetmişlerdir. Makale bu çelişkili durumu inceleyebilmek için karşılaştırmalı siyasetin üç araştırma yöntemine (yapısal, kültürel ve rasyonel seçim yaklaşımlarına) başvurmuştur. Yapısal yaklaşımla, geçiş sürecinde oluşturulmaya çalışılan anayasa gibi kurumların ve kurumsal yapıların kadın hakları üzerindeki etkisine odaklanılırken; kültürel analizle ataerkil yapıların, dinin ve İslamcıların başa geçmesinin kadınların özgürlüklerini kısıtlaması konusundaki etkisi ele alınmıştır. Ayrıca rasyonel seçim yaklaşımı ile incelenen ülkelerde iç savaşın sonlandırılması, güvenliğin sağlanması ve ekonomik krizlerin çözümü gibi öncelikleri olan konular varken kadın haklarına fazla önem verilmemesi konusu açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Makalede Mısır, Tunus, Yemen ve Libya'daki Arap Baharı öncesi ve sonrasındaki kadın hakları konuları özellikle kadının siyasi temsili üzerine odaklanılarak karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz edilecektir. Çalışma söz konusu ülkelerdeki yeni rejimlerin, kültürel ve yapısal olarak kadın haklarını fazla desteklememesine ilaveten geçiş sürecine dair daha acil sorunlarla uğraşılması nedeniyle kadınların siyasi haklarında iyileşme elde edilemediğini öne sürmektedir. Abstract Arab women who supported the protests of the Arab Spring, which attempted to bring political rights and civil liberties to their countries, found themselves isolated from the transition process in the aftermath of the revolutions. Moreover, Arab women have even lost the rights they received during the rule of the former authoritarian leaders. This article in an attempt to analyze this conflicting situation and will refer to three research methods of comparative politics: structural, cultural and rational choice approaches. By referring to structural analysis, the study looks at the impact of institutions such as the constitution and the institutional structures on women's rights. Through a cultural analysis, it concentrates on how the patriarchal life style, religion and Islamists in power constrained women's rights. By referring to a rational choice approach, the study argues that new regimes – while prioritizing the issues such as ending the war, providing security and resolving the economic crisis – have not paid much attention to women's rights. The article will concentrate on women's rights and political representation prior to and in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. The article will argue that there has not been much improvement in women's rights in four countries as a result of cultural and structural reasons, as well as the rational choices.
This paper discusses EU-Turkey relations with a specific reference to regional developments in th... more This paper discusses EU-Turkey relations with a specific reference to regional developments in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. In the last decade, the Turkish government has tried to intensify Turkey's influence in the region. However, increasing activism in Turkey's foreign policy toward the region was not accompanied by a parallel commitment in its relations with the EU. In the meantime, the EU was caught unprepared by the Arab Spring in the middle of the Euro-zone crisis, and now its strategic interests are being threatened by regional instability. Both sides have been faced with the task of adapting their policies to the political transitions in the region. After an analysis of their contemporary regional policies, this article argues that even though their strategies are not totally in line with each other, Turkey follows the same objectives that the EU neighborhood policy has pursued towards the Middle East.
The outbreak of pro-reform demonstrations in the Arab Middle East has not only raised questions o... more The outbreak of pro-reform demonstrations in the Arab Middle East has not only raised questions on the underlying internal dynamics, but also raised questions about EU's role as an external normative actor. Although the EU has long presented itself as a moral power in its southern neighborhood, there has been an inconsistency between what is being presented by the EU and its actual policies. Thus, eruption of the Arab uprisings has signified not only the failure of authoritarian ruling regimes, but also of the EU policies across the region. This article analyzes how the EU democracy promotion policies have influenced political liberalization/deliberalization in Egypt and Morocco since the early 2000s and elaborates on how the Arab Spring unfolded in Egypt and Morocco and the EU's response to its political consequences in these two states. It is argued that while an external actor such as the EU has a remarkable potential to influence process of political liberalization in Arab states such as Egypt and Morocco, democracy cannot be imposed from outside in the absence of meaningful pro-reform demand in the domestic context. Still, European support is viewed as more critical than ever for Arab countries undergoing transition. In addition, it underlines the difficulty to define the EU as a genuinely normative power when its democracy promotion policies towards regional states are taken into account in the past decade.
Although there is enormous discussion on normative power Europe, there is relatively less focus o... more Although there is enormous discussion on normative power Europe, there is relatively less focus on the EU sanctions regime, though sanctions have become a useful foreign policy tool as the EU has applied sanctions within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Looking at the literature, Kreutz focused on the EU sanctions regime in the time period of 1981-2004, during which sanctions were used to accomplish normative goals. Yet, later on Brummer argued that although norms and values still play a role in the EU's sanctions regime, more often they were surpassed by security and economic interests. This article examines the previous work on the EU sanctions regime and tries to comprehend why the use of sanctions has increased over time as well as whether they have been "selectively" used. In addition, the article analyzes whether the normative commitment is crucial in the construction of the EU sanctions regime. The EU sanctions regime toward Iran is analyzed in particular, because as indicated by Santini and Tabrizi, Iran is the first country against which the EU has developed a new strategy out of weapons of mass destruction concerns, starting in 2006. Since 2010, EU foreign ministers have adopted tougher sanctions in an effort to block its controversial nuclear program. Recently, the Iran nuclear deal of November 2013 was interpreted as attributable to sanctions against Iran, in which EU sanctions have constituted a remarkable role, have proven effective.