The Decline of Turkey as a Subimperialist Power: Political Economy of the Turkish Foreign Policy under AKP Rule


EROL E.

Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2024 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/19448953.2024.2311953
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Historical Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, Index Islamicus, PAIS International, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Turkish foreign policy during the AKP era has been under academic scrutiny for a long time, but the outcome of the analyses has often varied considerably. Yet most of this research agrees upon one thing, which is that Turkey under the AKP has become more active and more influential, both in its region and in the international arena. While accepting Turkey’s continuing relevancy, this paper argues that, although Turkey still could be considered as a regional power, its capacity for influencing regional and global politics had been eroded considerably in the last decade. At first glance, Turkey’s recent U-turns and failures in foreign policy under Erdoğan’s personalized style could be identified as the main reason for this erosion. However, building on Ruy Mauro Marini’s conceptualization of subimperialism, this paper contends that it is actually conditioned by the neoliberal restructuring of the Turkish economy in the last four decades, which has transformed Turkey’s economic structure in a very profound manner.