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11. Security Studies: Classic to Post-Modern Approaches

Author:
Vildan Meydan
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
What kinds of security threats do states currently face in international relations? What areas do security studies cover in the discipline? Contrary to the military security-oriented structure of the Cold War period, the new era requires a more inclusive and alternative approach to security studies due to the effects of globalization. Therefore, many areas that were seen as low politics issues in the early years of the discipline have begun to play an important role in shaping today’s international system and the security perception of states. For someone seeking to answer the above questions, Security Studies: Classic to Post-Modern Approaches, edited by Arda Özkan and Göktürk Tüysüzoğlu, is a good starting point. Within the framework of its eighteen chapters, the book is an important reference that not only deals with the classical approaches of the discipline, such as military issues, but also explores post-modern approaches and contemporary topics, such as energy, environment, migration, and so on.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Book Review
Political Geography:
Global Focus

12. The Making of the World: How International Organizations Shape Our Future

Author:
Asiye Gün Güneş Gülal
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The role of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the global system is a contentious issue. States delegate some responsibilities and in certain instances accept growing autonomy. Coalitions address complex environments, wasteful overlaps and jurisdictional trespass, turning them into productive divisions of labor. Therefore, Yves Schemeil aims to explain in his new book, The Making of the World: How International Organizations Shape Our Future, the expansion, collaboration, competition, and death of international organizations (IO), offering “a concise and topical discussion” to distinguish the book from the IOs literature. The book examines the impact of IOs on daily life and the exogenous contexts that constrain their action, focusing on inputs rather than outputs and emphasizing networks rather than single units. It highlights the interplay between factors employed in IOs, such as collaborative trends and networking potential. Networks are essential for IOs as they help prevent deadlocks, make the fight for narrower win-sets obsolete, and solve the credibility problem by generating trust. IOs have, moreover, invented new ways of management and governance, making their organizations more flexible, cognitive, transformative, and networking-based.
Topic:
International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, Book Review, and International Order
Political Geography:
Global Focus

13. Turkey’s New State in the Making: Transformations in Legality, Economy, and Coercion

Author:
Nurhayat Kavrak
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Turkey’s political history has seen recurring shifts between democratic ideals and authoritarian tendencies, notably during the two decades of the Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) rule. This transition marked a departure from a relatively democratic façade that emerged in response to the European Union (EU) accession process towards a more authoritarian regime characterized by increased government control and curtailment of civil liberties.1 It is a shift accentuated after the 2013 Gezi protests which culminated in a significant regime change in 2018. This transformation was marked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s consolidation of power through constitutional amendments, leading to the transition from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential system. To comprehend this transformation, it is imperative to examine the interplay between economic dynamics and the state within the neo-liberal capitalist system, aligning with Poulantzas’ observations on global trends.2 It can be argued that the accumulation and state crises, exacerbated by the 2008 global economic crisis, have contributed to Turkey’s authoritarian shift in parallel with global developments. Originating from a 2018 workshop at Middle East Technical University, Turkey’s New State in the Making: Transformations in Legality, Economy, and Coercion provides a historical-sociological perspective on Turkey’s state crises, serving as a vital resource for comprehending authoritarianism and class-state relations and offering an in-depth exploration of the AKP regime’s transformation, presenting a continuum of its history rather than a rigid division between democratic and authoritarian phases.
Topic:
International Relations, History, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Economy, Book Review, AKP, and Coercion
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and European Union

14. The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition, and Security in the Arab Gulf

Author:
Betul Doğan Akkaş
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Abdullah Hamidaddin edited a comprehensive study published by Bloomsbury in cooperation with King Faisal Research and Islamic Studies. The book provides outstanding research on the Huthi movement including sections on its ideology, belief system; and role in reconfiguring one of the oldest and strongest culture and history in the region. The current state of the Yemeni government, that is the divided and insecure rule of country since the Arab revolts in 2011 poses military and political threats to the Arab Gulf States and the Horn of Africa. Yemen hosts paramilitary groups like the Huthis and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula along with unorganized groups belonging to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as well as military groups with links to the Southern secessionists. Yemen is a failed state that poses serious insecurities for its citizens and for other states in the region. The underlining socio-economic problems of Yemen in terms of lack of economic activities, food insecurity, and the security of civilians are closely related with the ongoing proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran; the military intervention led by Saudi Arabia since 2015; the internal conflict among three major groups including Huthis, the Central government and the Southern secessionists. Amid all these overlapping elements of the conflict, the nature of the Huthi movement and how it has evolved to be major actor in Yemen require further attention. The purpose of the book is to illustrate the nature and impacts of the Huthi movement in Yemen. A multi-layered and multi-disciplined analysis of the movement in the volume edited by Hamidaddin divides and categorizes the overall content. The research, thus, is a significant and meaningful academic effort as it fills in a valid gap on the Huthi movements in the literature for this closed religious and political group operating in Yemen. The book is also important for understanding the current form and content of the war in Yemen because the case studies in the volume focus on quite recent issues like the education and media policies of Huthis.
Topic:
Security, Book Review, Ideology, Houthis, and Ambition
Political Geography:
Yemen and Gulf Nations

15. Spring 2024 edition of Strategic Visions

Author:
Joseph Johnson, Alan McPherson, and Andrew Santora
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Strategic Visions
Institution:
Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, Temple University
Abstract:
Contents News from the Director……… 2 Note from the Davis Fellow…. 7 News from the Community…. 8 Research Reports….. 11 Checking in with the CENFAD Emerging Scholar…. 13 CENFAD Community Interviews Dr. Michael Brenes……. 15 Dr. Stephanie Freeman…… 20 Retrospective: The “All Roads Lead to Gettysburg Conference”….. 26 Book Reviews The Third Reich’s Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas by Helen Roche, reviewed by Andrew Santora …………………….. 30
Topic:
History, Book Review, Higher Education, Interview, and Use of Force
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and United States of America

16. Book Review: Katharina Volk, The Roman Republic of Letters: Scholarship, Philosophy and Politics in the Age of Cicero and Caesar (Princeton University Press, 2021)

Author:
Sinem Akgül-Açikmese
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Ancient Roman history creates a wide interdisciplinary field of study for academics, from politics and archaeology to sociology and art. Interpreting today’s world by making inferences from Roman history is the most important factor that encourages the academy to work in this wide field. In The Roman Republic of Letters: Scholarship, Philosophy and Politics in the Age of Cicero and Caesar, Katherine Volk examines the Late Roman Republic (63-43 BCE), unlocking details for readers and researchers that were previously overlooked. At the same time, Volk has brought together the subjects of philosophy, religion, politics, rhetoric and grammar in a way that contributes to intellectual history. We can confidently say that this book fills a gap in helping us understand the intellectual and philosophical debates behind the political upheavals of the late Republic and in comparing Roman politics and politics today.
Topic:
History, Book Review, Philosophy, and Roman Empire
Political Geography:
Europe and Rome

17. Book Review: Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources (Oxford University Press, 2021)

Author:
Hüseyin Pusat Kildiş
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources sheds light on commodity traders, crucial yet often overlooked actors in the global economy. The book is a collection of stories about them, how they get involved in political affairs, where they get their power, and how they work in the shadows. These stories from different times and places show the immense power of commodity traders. Methodologically, the book is mainly based on interviews with more than a hundred traders. Blas and Farchy also collected thousands of pages that detail the finances, business networks, and structure of commodity traders’ organizations (p. 11-12). The book consists of 13 chapters. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are particularly important since they reveal how commodity traders operate by addressing the energy crisis that arose due to waves of nationalization in the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s. The book’s main purpose is to reveal the role of despots and tyrants in the global economy by pointing out the unsavory aspects of their businesses, such as bribery and offshore banking. Since most of these methods are illegal and cannot be used by official companies and institutions, such commodity traders come to the fore.
Topic:
History, Economy, Book Review, Commodities, and Trade
Political Geography:
Middle East and Global Focus

18. Book Review: Joseph McQuade, A Genealogy of Terrorism: Colonial Law and the Origins of an Idea (Cambridge University Press, 2021) & Alice Martini, The UN and Counter-Terrorism: Global Hegemonies, Power and Identities (Routledge, 2021)

Author:
Tuncer Beyribey
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Since the mid-2000s, scholars have been using critical theory, poststructuralism, feminism/ queer theory, and postcolonialism to critique the hegemonic narrative of terrorism. They analyze how terrorism discourse (re)produces global hierarchies and power relations. This involves archeological and genealogical research, assessing the formation of the terrorism discourse by analyzing how the peculiar Western discourse has become hegemonic. By incorporating postcolonial and genealogical studies into critical terrorism studies, McQuade and Martini attempt to explain this process in their respective works. Their books are complementary in that they allow readers to trace the historical development of the concept of terrorism from British India to its ubiquity in international institutions. Although they cover different historical periods, it is still possible to see how the concept of terrorism has been used in both of those historical periods – during British colonialism in India in McQuade’s book and after the 1980s in Martini’s book – to normalize discriminatory practices against (post)colonial societies.
Topic:
Terrorism, United Nations, History, Hegemony, and Book Review
Political Geography:
Global Focus

19. Book Review: Sebastian Rosato, Intentions in Great Power Politics: Uncertainty and the Roots of Conflict (Yale University Press, 2021)

Author:
Orhan Mehmed Irfan
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
Students and practitioners of International Relations have always been wondering whether the effects of anarchy can be mitigated, where anarchy stands for the absence of hierarchical organization among states. In other words, is it possible for states to abandon their endemic suspicions and anxieties, and start to trust each other? Sebastian Rosato, with his timely and much needed work, concludes that this cannot be the case and those who foresee rosy scenarios for the United States (US)-China rivalry are, to put it mildly, mistaken.
Topic:
Power Politics, Book Review, Conflict, and Rivalry
Political Geography:
China, Global Focus, and United States of America

20. Book Review: Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan

Author:
Nicole Plante
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan is an ethnography written by Andrew Bush. It is based on three years of ethnographic and archival research in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Pulling from this research, the book argues that many Muslims choose to turn away from piety, but in doing so, they do not turn away from Islam in general nor from other pious Muslims. Instead, they find other ways of orienting themselves to Islam. It is these different orientations that the author explores through the lens of ordinary life and experiences. Ultimately, Between Muslims is an approachable and thorough account of the experiences of Iraqi Kurds that speaks to important issues in the study of Islam and the Middle East. The book includes an introduction, five core content chapters, and an epilogue addressed to readers. The introduction begins with Bush laying out his three central claims of the book. He argues that many Muslims turn away from piety but remain Muslim and that one way to explore their relationship with Islam is through their relationships. He then provides a brief background and context for his work. He first explains what he means by turning away from piety and different orientations to Islam. From there, he describes how his book will contribute to larger discussions by exploring a different kind of religious orientation and how religious orientation is present in everyday life. Following this, Bush discusses his choice of using ordinary relationships. He then discusses Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish people, and Islamic traditions to provide context for his work. The introduction provides a thorough background for the book and addresses various counterarguments. In doing so, the introduction gives readers an understanding of where the book is grounded theoretically and how it will contribute to current scholarship in meaningful ways.
Topic:
Islam, Religion, Book Review, and Kurds
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)