Strategy and Strategic Discourse in Turkish Foreign Policy

This book provides a critical realist analysis of Turkish foreign policy (TFP), covering various periods from the Turkish National Struggle to the contemporary Justice and Development Party Government. It discusses TFP within the critical realist framework, employing the concept of differences in continuity to demonstrate how agency and structure interacted, and how some discourses arose and others failed in the history of the Turkish Republic. The book also applies the concepts of strategy and strategic discourse to reveal how real-world strategic preferences correspond to the narration. Lastly, the author argues that the underlying structural forces have endured, despite Turkey’s persistence in enhancing the agency’s role, ultimately leading to differentiation between “what is spoken” and “what is actualized”.

“Strategy and Strategic Discourse in Turkish Foreign Policy is a well-rounded source of analysis. The book provides a wealth of necessary theoretical and historical background for understanding the security strategies of Turkish foreign policy. … Yükselen’s analysis should be praised for its well-rounded analysis, especially for academics and students researching Turkish foreign policy.” (Deniz Ünsal, Insight Turkey, Vol. 23 (1), 2021)

Hasan Yükselen gained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey. His research interests cover the concept of strategy and Turkish Foreign Policy from a critical realist perspective. He is a visiting research fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre, University of Oxford, UK.