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Begin New Search Political Geography Asia Journal The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development

31. The Role of Contesting Ideologies: Civil-Military Relations in Turkey

Author:
Rahman Dag
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Civil-military relationship is generally examined through the use of an institutional approach or theories (concordance) that emphasise the salience of power struggles and social cohesion. These contributions are important but often exclude the role of contesting ideologies. To address this gap, this paper takes an ideological approach to address civil-military relations in Turkey. The analyses commence with the military reforms of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century and the Republican period. The paper argues that modernization projects of the Empire paved the way for military superiority which turned into being saviour and founders of the Republic. It then moves to consider the ideological parameters that coloured the military establishment, arguing that the target of modernization was itself systemized and internalized into Kemalist ideology and the duty to preserve this remains inculcated in the contemporary military establishment.
Topic:
Military Strategy, Military Affairs, Coup, and Civil-Military Relations
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

32. Changing Dynamics of Turkish Regional Policy: Resistance for Multilevel Governance?

Author:
Ali Onur Ozcelik
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This article is concerned with the relationship between Europeanization and regionalization processes in Turkey in the post-Helsinki Era of 1999. By considering European regional policy and its related pre-accession financial incentives as the most useful and appropriate empirical lenses, it offers an analysis of the causes and mechanisms encouraging regionalization process in Turkey during the EU accession process. Through the analysis of official documents and of in-depth interviews with relevant actors in the EU and Turkey, findings suggest that while some of the changes are considered as direct effects of Europeanization, such as the creation of territorial system according to NUTS classification, other developments are invoked by indirect mechanisms of Europeanization, such as the creation of regional development agencies (RDAs) and their role in regional planning and allocation of national funds. More importantly, the findings illustrate that although the EU’s credibility has declined after 2005 and its regional policy, in the sense of the implementation of regional policies and management of structural funds, have shifted towards the more centralized model in the post-Lisbon era (for the 2007-2013 structural fund programme), developments in these areas in Turkey have gone to opposite directions, more accurately, through the more regionalized model. These changes not only reflect the pre-Lisbon practices of EU regional policy and structural funds underlining a spill-over effect resulting from the dissemination of EU practices and policies, but also contain the spices of Turkish administrative tradition.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Governance, European Union, Europeanization, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

33. Testing the Rentier State Theory: The Case of Azerbaijan

Author:
Alper Almaz
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This article shall focus on the political aspects of the resource curse theory, in particular the rentier state theory as a sub-theory of the resource curse. The rentier state is a political economy theory that seeks to account for state society relations in states that get most of their revenues, in the form of rents, from resource sector. Besides, the theory asserts that these rents have an effect on democracy, economic growth and security matters of the resource rich countries. Applying this theory to Azerbaijan shall contribute to Azerbaijan's political economy literature. In this paper, I argue that revenues generated from energy exports hinder democracy in Azerbaijan since they are used for fulfilling pockets of political elites and hampering emergence of any opposition to the dominant groups. In the very first part of the paper, the rentier state theory will be elaborated. More specifically, the concept of rentier state and how a rentier state behaves will be explained in detail so as to provide a framework for the case study of this paper. In the second part after giving a short brief about Azerbaijan's energy reserves and societal problems the rentier state theory will be applied to Azerbaijan in order to find out whether it suffers from the rentier state deficiencies. Indeed, the rentier effect and the repression effect of the theory will be analysed. In the final part, concluding remarks will be delivered with a laconic summary of the paper.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Democracy, Elites, and Rentier State Theory
Political Geography:
Europe, Asia, and Azerbaijan

34. Understanding the Nature of Local-Global Interactions in Istanbul’s Retail Property Market

Author:
Fatih Eren
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Today, capital, people and information flows have increased more than ever before among different regions in the world. Every flow creates a different local-global interaction in its own social environment. One of social environments in which this kind of interactions occurs is property markets. There are some theories to explain the nature of local and global interactions in social sciences literature. However, the success of these theories in explaining the nature of local-global interactions in a property market became subject to a research very few. This research aims to make a contribution to this area. The study also intends to find general answers to some important questions emerge in the internationalization process of property markets. The study focuses on the three well-accepted interaction theories of social sciences, which are imperialism, globalisation and glocalisation. The validity of the assumptions of these theories in the case of Istanbul’s retail property market is questioned in this research. The emergence of social structures and the specific behaviours of these structures in local property markets may be understood better when true point of view is found out about interactions. A qualitative methodology is followed; interview and document analysis methods are used in the study. Findings show that the nature of local-global interactions experienced in Istanbul’s retail property market is very unique so it is not possible to explain t
Topic:
Globalization, Imperialism, Housing, and Retail
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Asia, and Istanbul

35. A Case Study of China’s Membership of the World Trade Organization: Implications on Sovereignty

Author:
Binneh S. Minteh
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Since becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, China embarked on sever- al commitments to become a key player on the international economic stage. This pa- per is a case study of China’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the implications on Chinese sovereignty. Theorizing China’s historical evolution amid concerns of sovereignty, the paper looks at China’s Regime Commitment and Compli- ance in the WTO, major Compliance and Commitment Concerns with China in the Or- ganization. China may have complied with some of its commitments particularly in the service area. The paper distinctively concludes that China’s membership of the organi- zation has forced it to share power with other actor whilst protecting the interest of its citizens on the global stage.
Topic:
Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Sovereignty, World Trade Organization, and Trade
Political Geography:
China and Asia

36. Razeen Sally: Trade Policy, New Century: The WTO, FTAs and Asia Rising

Author:
Salih Altundere
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Based on a classical-liberal approach, in his recent book Razeen Sally provides an account of current challenges to free trade and offers solutions that he thinks best fit to the 21st century developments. He starts with providing a historical background of the issue and giving a summary of the main political and economic arguments in favour of free trade. According to Sally, although ideas about free trade started in the West –mainly by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, with the argument of absolute and comparative advantages- and were originally exported to the rest of the world, challenges for trade policy today come mainly from Asia.
Political Geography:
Asia