Erdem Kuşdil | Sabanci University (original) (raw)
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Thesis Chapters by Erdem Kuşdil
Although it is one of the biggest initiatives that the human race has accomplished, European Unio... more Although it is one of the biggest initiatives that the human race has accomplished, European Union (EU) has never been a partnership that is free from internal disagreements and conflicts. EU has survived these crises of confidence and been able to keep its unity up to now. However, a recent crisis that has arisen due to the influx of Syrian refugees to the borders of its member states seems to trigger the (ever-present) internal disagreements regarding the basic values of the Union. Although EU presents a powerful image with its institutions based on a solid legal base, this recent crisis has put the Union in a state of “chaos” easily. The idea behind this thesis depends on a personal observation regarding this weakness. It is quite surprising to see that this huge project supplied with a powerful legal structures is built on such a “shaky” grounds when it comes to the basic values that are enveloped in the legal infrastructure of EU. The Syrian refugee crisis has made it quite salient that there is an ambiguity in the EU Asylum law framework creates disparity amongst Member States. Therefore, I formulated a main question of this thesis as follows: “Does the European Union’s current legal and cultural structure create disagreement within the Unity?” I propose that handling such suddenly arisen conflicts can only be examined by using a perspective that provides the necessary tools for understanding the basic values and the potentials of cultures in a “constructivist” way. The sudden change of cultures towards the regional system can be explained by the concept of "Cultures of Anarchy" of Alexander Wendt’s social constructivist theory of international relations. This thesis focused on the structural problems of the EU law’s framework on the Syrian refugee Crisis and by using Wendt’s theory to look at the micro-level cultural internalization differences of EU Member States (Germany and Hungary) which led to disagreement in the EU. The main goal of this thesis was to show that there could be regressions in international culture under unexpected circumstances such as the migration crisis. I identified EU as having a “Kantian culture”, suddenly lost its legitimization within communities and became a self-interest driven field of politics, despite its cooperation and integration based principles. By presenting examples from Merkel’s and Orban’s policies, I tried to show the dynamics behind the sudden changes by applying Wendt’s key concepts such as the internalization degrees that are coercion, self-interest and legitimacy.
Papers by Erdem Kuşdil
Although it is one of the biggest initiatives that the human race has accomplished, European Unio... more Although it is one of the biggest initiatives that the human race has accomplished, European Union (EU) has never been a partnership that is free from internal disagreements and conflicts. EU has survived these crises of confidence and been able to keep its unity up to now. However, a recent crisis that has arisen due to the influx of Syrian refugees to the borders of its member states seems to trigger the (ever-present) internal disagreements regarding the basic values of the Union. Although EU presents a powerful image with its institutions based on a solid legal base, this recent crisis has put the Union in a state of “chaos” easily. The idea behind this thesis depends on a personal observation regarding this weakness. It is quite surprising to see that this huge project supplied with a powerful legal structures is built on such a “shaky” grounds when it comes to the basic values that are enveloped in the legal infrastructure of EU. The Syrian refugee crisis has made it quite salient that there is an ambiguity in the EU Asylum law framework creates disparity amongst Member States. Therefore, I formulated a main question of this thesis as follows: “Does the European Union’s current legal and cultural structure create disagreement within the Unity?” I propose that handling such suddenly arisen conflicts can only be examined by using a perspective that provides the necessary tools for understanding the basic values and the potentials of cultures in a “constructivist” way. The sudden change of cultures towards the regional system can be explained by the concept of "Cultures of Anarchy" of Alexander Wendt’s social constructivist theory of international relations. This thesis focused on the structural problems of the EU law’s framework on the Syrian refugee Crisis and by using Wendt’s theory to look at the micro-level cultural internalization differences of EU Member States (Germany and Hungary) which led to disagreement in the EU. The main goal of this thesis was to show that there could be regressions in international culture under unexpected circumstances such as the migration crisis. I identified EU as having a “Kantian culture”, suddenly lost its legitimization within communities and became a self-interest driven field of politics, despite its cooperation and integration based principles. By presenting examples from Merkel’s and Orban’s policies, I tried to show the dynamics behind the sudden changes by applying Wendt’s key concepts such as the internalization degrees that are coercion, self-interest and legitimacy.