Author: Bahar Rumelili / Political Geography: Turkey

Author:: Bahar Rumelili
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This article analyzes the identity dimension of EU-Turkey relations from the constructivist perspective in international relations theory. It contends that in EU-Turkey relations, European and Turkish identities are undergoing a continuous process of reconstruction and negotiation. In this process, Turkey's representational practices assume importance in reshaping European identity. In response to the arguments of those who oppose Turkey's EU membership on the identity ground this article claims that a constructivist perspective foresees the possibility that European and Turkish identities can be reconstructed in such a way as to make the justification of Turkish membership possible and desirable from an identity viewpoint.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

Author:: Bahar Rumelili
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: This study argues that the forms of identity relations that the European Union (EU) establishes with outsider states shapes the Union's ability to postively influence conflicts involving those states. The European identitiy promoted by the EU embodies both inclusive and explosive aspects. While the EU has invoked the inclusive aspects of its identity in relation to the states in Central and Eastern Europe, it has constructed Morocco to be inherently different, and fluctuated between inclusion and exclusion in the case of Turkey. These various identity relations have shaped the EU's impact on Polish-German, Spanish-Moroccan, and Greek-Turkish relations show how an inclusive EU can contribute to the resolution of conflicts on its borders, the cases of Spanish-Moroccan and pre-1999 Greek-Turkish relations demonstrate how an exclusionary EU can end up aggravating the conflicts.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

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