Explaining Miscalculation and Maladaptation in Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Middle East during the Arab Uprisings: A Neoclassical Realist Perspective

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YEŞİLYURT N.

ALL AZIMUTH-A JOURNAL OF FOREIGN POLICY AND PEACE, cilt.6, sa.2, ss.65-83, 2017 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 6 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2017
  • Doi Numarası: 10.20991/allazimuth.310151
  • Dergi Adı: ALL AZIMUTH-A JOURNAL OF FOREIGN POLICY AND PEACE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.65-83
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Neoclassical realism, Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle East, Arab Spring, SOFT POWER, TURKEY
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This article seeks to test the relevance of neoclassical realism in explaining the foreign policy behavior of a regional power in an era of turbulent change in the regional system. Taking Turkeys policy response to the Arab Uprisings as a case study, it tries to explain, from a neoclassical realist perspective, the causes of Ankaras miscalculations while formulating an ambitious policy in 2011, as well as its failure to adapt to the new realities on the ground between 2013 and 2016. Overall, it argues that neoclassical realism provides a satisfying explanation for Turkeys policy failure in this period, and that the problems of miscalculation and maladaptation in Turkish foreign policy were caused by distortive effects of certain unit-level factors. In this sense, while ideological tendencies of the ruling Justice and Development Party, as well as its consolidation of domestic power, shaped the content and styling of Ankaras policy response after 2011, the extensive utilization of foreign policy for domestic purposes by the ruling party hindered Turkeys adaptation to shifting balances in the regional power structure between 2013 and 2016.