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251. Eurasian Alternative in Turkish Foreign Policy

Author:
Erel Tellal
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
One of the constant fundamental principles of Turkish foreign policy during the republican era has been its “Western orientation”. In spite of this fact Turkey faced an “Eurasian alternative” in the last decade. Turkey, after negligence for 70 years, has tried to develop (to have friendly relations) with Central Asian and southern Caucasian states after they had acquired independence. The attempt of the last ten years can be called as failure of the last ten years. Since the State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained ineffective in the process of determining policy and implementing it, this vacuum was filled by extreme nationalists who are inclined to see themselves as “big brother” and also by religious fundamentalists. Moreover, reasons stemming from the region and international environment played a role in the failure of Turkish policies as well. In the second decade Turkey should determine the related factors and head toward to cooperate with regional countries and Russia in order to become successful in the region.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Central Asia, Eurasia, Turkey, and Asia

252. Turkish – Armenian Relations in the Aftermath of the USSR

Author:
Ali Faik Demir
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Following the collapse of the USSR, Turkey acquired a new opportunity concerning its foreign policy: Caucasus. In this whole region and especially in the southern Caucasus composed of three independent states, Armenia occupied the most critical and the most sensitive issue. Turkey, despite the historical negative legacy, tried to establish a different base for its relations with Armenia, succeeding the dissolution of the Soviet Union. According to this, it is possible to observe positive steps undertaken by the two sides under the presidency of Petrosian, but the Nagorno-Karabakh question became the decisive factor of the bilateral relations during this same period. During the presidency of his successor Kocharian, other than Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Diaspora communities gained influence. This led the so-called “genocide” issue to constitute an important subject of the international agenda in bilateral relations as well as in other international platforms. Despite the Kocharian's hawkish rhetoric in the beginning, which caused the deterioration of the bilateral relations, during the second term of his presidency, a certain détente has been observed. Apart from official relations and negotiations, the Turkish-Armenian Peace Commission, founded in 2001 with the intention to establish a positive, peaceful and free of prejudice platform constitutes an important step.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Genocide
Political Geography:
Russia, Turkey, Caucasus, and Armenia

253. European Homeland Security Post-March 11th and Transatlantic Relations

Author:
Didier Bigo, Jeremy Shapiro, and Andrei Fedorov
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
In the oral presentation of their papers, Didier Bigo, Jeremy Shapiro and Andrei Fedorov generally highlighted their respective region's specificities rather than dwelling on the elements of commonality. Although this was in part a consequence of the European Security Forum's modus operandi – with its differentiated European, American and Russian perspectives, rarely in our meetings has the contrast been so clearly highlighted.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

254. Russia and Europe: A Finnish View

Author:
Henrikki Heikka
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In recent months, several prominent Finnish politicians have criticized the Finnish government for lack of vision in its foreign policy. Liisa Jaakonsaari, Chairman of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and a prominent social democrat), has argued that the government “lacks one thing, and with it, everything: a vision”. Member of the European Parliament Alexander Stubb (the Conservative party's vote puller in the last EP elections) has publicly called contemporary Finnish foreign policy as “pitiful tinkering” (säälittävää näpertelyä). Editorial writers have begun to recycle the old the term “driwftwood” (ajopuu), a term originally coined to describe Finland's flip-flopping during World War II, in their attempts to find an appropriate label for the present government's foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Diplomacy, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Finland, and Asia

255. Responding to Terrorism: Russia at a Crossroads

Author:
Leon Aron
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Wars have repeatedly had a decisive influence on Russia's political development, and the present global conflict against fundamentalist Islam is no exception. With the murder of hundreds of Russians at the hands of Chechen terrorists—most notably, the massacre of schoolchildren at Beslan earlier this month—President Vladimir Putin has announced a sweeping overhaul of Russia's political system that would further consolidate power in the Kremlin and damage the country's nascent democracy. The United States and its allies now confront the dual challenge of assisting Russia in its fight against terrorism while simultaneously resisting the erosion of freedom there.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
Russia and United States

256. High-Tech Cluster Bombs: Why Successful Technology Hubs Are the Exception, Not the Rule

Author:
Scott Wallsten
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Although success stories do exist, most high-technology cluster-development projects do little to enhance regional economic growth. The taxpayer costs for a wide array of tax incentives offered by politicians to corporations and research institutes as inducements to move facilities into their districts are rarely recouped, and often only wealthy organizations and developers benefit from the projects.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

257. The Emptying of Russia

Author:
Nicholas Eberstadt
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Russia, whose birth rates have declined and whose mortality rates have dramatically increased in the last several decades, faces a demographic crisis. Thus far, Russian political leaders have focused on trying to increase birth rates, but a greater sense of urgency must be applied to diminish mortality rates and to respond to health threats, including HIV/AIDS.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

258. CERI: Russian Foreign Policy Discourse during the Kosovo Crisis: Internal Struggles and the Political Imaginaire

Author:
Guillaume Colin
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
The Kosovo crisis gave rise to a domestic political crisis in Russia. The NATO bombings called into question the efficiency of Russian foreign policy, which was against them, challenging the worldview that the government conveyed, thereby reinforcing the communist anti-establishment vision. The present article, by analysing the press conferences given by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Communist Party, argues that each of the two narratives aimed to construct and impose (or defend) its own worldview and dividing principles of the world. In both narratives, this struggle was backed up using very strong political identity myths—namely Russia's relation to the West and the memory of the Second World War—that are referred to in opposite ways. The Kosovo example allows us to highlight the stakes and themes that work their way into Russian foreign policy discourse and contribute to exploiting foreign policy issues in Russian domestic political debate, and also cast light on the distorting effects caused by this instrumentalization.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and NATO
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Kosovo

259. The Logic of Piloting and Trans-Border Regionalism: The Project-Oriented Approach in EU-Russian Cooperation

Author:
Andrey Makarychev and Sergei Prozorov
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper addresses the impact of innovative developments in Russian policy-making discourse during the Putin presidency on the transformation of conflict issues in EU-Russian relations. The increasing recourse of Russian policy-makers in the border regions to the so-called 'projectoriented approach', which has an affinity to the modality of policy-making espoused by the EU programmes in Russia, has important consequences for conflictual dispositions in EU-Russian trans-border relations.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Development
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

260. US Policies toward Central Asia and Effects of the September 11

Author:
Çagri Erhan
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
As is had been the case during the Cold War, Central Asian region was one of the priorities in the US foreign policy in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Howevwr, this gegan to change in the second half of the 1990s as the US became aware of its vital interests in the region. This led to a situıation in which the place accorded to Central Asia in the American national security strategies began to increase. Following September 11 attacks the US started cooperating with the Central Asian republics closely. US troops began to enter the region under the rhetoric of "fight against terrorism" since the end of 2001. Thus, US administration began its military opening toward the region as it had been seeking ways to gain influence in the region since the second half of the 1900s. Wahington realized its aim guickly due to the "temporary approval" of Russia and willingness of the regional countries to cooperate.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Central Asia, Asia, and Soviet Union