Contentious Issues Of Security And The Future Of Turkey

Security is a major contemporary concern, with foreign and security policies topping the agenda of many governments. At the centre of Western security concerns is Turkey, due to its geographical proximity to converging major fault lines such as the Caucasus, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. As trans-Atlantic debates evolve around these major fault lines, future relations will have a direct impact on the re-orientation of Turkish foreign and security policies. This comprehensive study focuses on the future of Turkish foreign and security policies within the emerging strategies of the two Wests. Discussing the challenges Turkey has been facing since the turn of the century, it examines Turkish foreign policy in the context of trans-Atlantic relations - as a global actor, and with respect to conflict, new power relations, energy security, Greece, Cyprus and the environment.

This study examines the history and politics of Turkey-EU relations since 1959, exploring the complex interaction of geostrategic and normative concerns which have resulted in the current lack of accession progress and Turkey's slide to authoritarianism.

In 1997 Turkey and Syria were on the brink of war, engaged in a very real power struggle. Turkey was aligned with Syria's main enemy, Israel, and there were seemingly intractable differences on the issues of borders, the sharing of river waters and trans-border communities. In less than a decade, relations were transformed from enmity to amity. Border issues and water sharing quarrels were moving towards amicable settlement and the two states' policies toward the Kurdish issue converging. Turkey undertook to mediate the Syrian-Israeli conflict and close political and economic relations were developing rapidly between the two states. Yet, with the Syrian Uprising, relations returned to enmity. What explains these remarkable changes? Given that Turkey and Syria are two pivotal states in the region, what are the implications of this changing relationship for the international politics of the Middle East, the balance of power and regional stability? In this internationally collaborative work, co-edited by Raymond Hinnebusch and Özlem Tür, British, Syrian and Turkish scholars address these questions and examine the various domestic and international drivers in this key regional relationship. They discuss what theories best help us understand these seismic realignments and explore the impact of economic interdependence, identity changes and power balances on the evolving relationship between these two key regional powers.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Turkey’s position in transatlantic alliances goes back in the 1950s. Turkish Foreign Policy “Fresh Look” was launched just prior to the failed coup d’etat last July, and was intended to mend ties with its neighbors with whom Turkey has strained relationships. Turkey’s new pragmatic reconciliation policy strives to build bridges without damaging existing transatlantic alliance. The goal of developing good relations with its neighbors that surround the Mediterranean and the Black sea, presents Turkey with a number of challenges. Turkey is seen as a bridge between West and East due to its geographic location. This volume intends to shed more light into past, present and future Turkey-Transatlantic relations, focusing on a history of Turkey-Transatlantic relations, the impact of current developments in Turkey and its neighbors, and Turkish domestic and foreign policies in Transatlantic relations. Authors include: Hülya Kevser Akdemir, Serdar Altay, Altay Atlı, Enes bayraklı, Münevver Cebeci, Filiz Cicioğlu, Şükrü Cicioğlu, İsmail Çağlar, Beril Dedeoğlu, Mehmet Uğur Ekinci, Emre Erşen, Tea Ivanovic, Donald N. Jensen, Edward P. Joseph, Kılıç Buğra Kanat, Erdal Tanas Karagöl, Christina Lin, Jennifer Miel, Nona Mikhelidze, Çiğdem Nas, Aslı Şirin Öner, Yonca Özer, Nicolò Sartori, Merve Seren, Eduard Soler i Lecha, Melike Janine Sökmen, Sasha Toperich, Aylin Ünver Noi, Alida Vračić, and Murat Yerlitaş

The Routledge Handbook of Turkish Politics pulls together contributions from many of the world’s leading scholars on different aspects of Turkey. Turkey today is going through possibly the most turbulent period in its history, with major consequences both nationally and internationally. The country looks dramatically different from the Republic founded by Atatürk in 1923. The pace of change has been rapid and fundamental, with core interlinked changes in ruling institutions, political culture, political economy, and society. Divided into six main parts, this Handbook provides a single-source overview of Turkish politics: Part I: History and the making of Contemporary Turkey Part II: Politics and Institutions Part III: The Economy, Environment and Development Part IV: The Kurdish Insurgency and Security Part V: State, Society and Rights Part VI: External Relations This comprehensive Handbook is an essential resource for students of Politics, International Relations, International/Security Studies with an interest on contemporary Turkey.

This volume contributes to the growing debate surrounding the impact that the rising powers may or may not be having on contemporary global political and economic governance. Through studies of Brazil, India, China, and other important developing countries within their respective regions such as Turkey and South Africa, we raise the question of the extent to which the challenge posed by the rising powers to global governance is likely to lead to an increase in democracy and social justice for the majority of the world’s peoples. By addressing such questions, the volume explicitly seeks to raise the broader normative question of the implications of this emergent redistribution of economic and political power for the sustainability and legitimacy of the emerging 21st century system of global political and economic governance. Questions of democracy, legitimacy, and social justice are largely ignored or under-emphasised in many existing studies, and the aim of this collection of papers is to show that serious consideration of such questions provides important insights into the sustainability of the emerging global political economy and new forms of global governance. This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.