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Begin New Search Political Geography United States Content Type Journal Article Journal Uluslararasi Iliskiler

1. The Only Thing We Have to Fear: Post 9/11 Institutionalization of In-security

Author:
Mitat Çelikpala and Duygu Öztürk
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
During the last decade, billions of dollars have been spent to increase security measures in the United States. New institutions, including a department for homeland security, have been established, new security tools have been developed, and surveillance of Americans has been increased. However, despite the creation of 'safety zones,' neither the level of the Americans' feeling of security from further terrorist attacks, nor their confidence in the ability of US governments to prevent attacks, has seen an increase. According to Beck, who introduced the concepts of 'world risk society' and 'reflexive modernity', terrorism is one of the products of reflexive modernity which cannot be addressed by traditional security measures. Within this framework, this paper analyzes the case of the Americans since 9/11 attacks. In this vein, it is argued that the gap which has arisen as a result of addressing non-territory and non-state-based terrorism through state-based security measures has caused a continuation of a high level of insecurity, fear, and anxiety among the Americans. Public opinion surveys conducted in the United States since the 9/11 attacks by various institutions are used to analyze Americans' thoughts about security and the terror risk in the United States.
Political Geography:
United States

2. Democracy as Counter-Terrorism in the Middle East: A Red Herring?

Author:
Katerina dalacoura
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The shock of the 9/11 attacks had complex and profound effects on US policy in the Middle East. One result was the decision of George W. Bush's administration to place the discourse of democracy promotion at centre stage in its policy towards the region. This decision was based on the notion that the spread of democracy would serve as antidote to the emergence of Islamist terrorism and enhance Western security. This paper challenges the assumption that the causes of Islamist terrorism can be solely or primarily reduced to the political factors of exclusion and repression. The paper then argues that, if authoritarianism is not the cause of Islamist terrorism, we must look elsewhere for an explanation. Economic and social causes are not the main issue at play here either. Far from seeing them as irrational actors driven by religious or millenarian motives, Islamist terrorists – similarly to most other terrorist organisations, with some exceptions - are rational and calculating in their choice of tactics. Promoting democracy as an antidote to terrorism must be replaced by alternative policies. If we accept that Islamist movements adopt terrorist tactics for instrumental or strategic reasons, effective counter-terrorism will start from the understanding that Islamist terrorists are rational actors, who will always make cost-benefit analyses with regards to the use of terrorist tactics.
Political Geography:
United States and Middle East

3. The Iran Factor in US-Gulf Cooperation Council Relations

Author:
Esra Pakin Albayrakoğlu
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Being strategic partners as of 1980s against the common threat of Iran, the USA and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have diverged in time as regards how to treat this country. The GCC has sought to protect their interests and cultivated dialogue with Iran, while trying not to break relations with Washington. The Council insists on reintegrating Iran into the system through diplomatic means. However, the ability of the GCC to influence Iranian and USA policies are limited. At a time when multidimensional security issues render the GCC dependent upon USA defence capabilities, the USA, GCC and Iran face difficulties in reaching a common ground.
Topic:
International Security
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, Persian Gulf, and Gulf Cooperation Council

4. The Evolution of US Policy towards the Southern Caucasus

Author:
S. Neil MacFarlane and George Khelashvili
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article examines the evolution of American policy in the Southern Caucasus since 1991. It begins with a discussion of the principal drivers of that policy. A discussion of the evolution of the policy since the end of the Cold War follows. The article argues that US policy in the region has been ad hoc and inconsistent, reflecting ideological considerations (democracy promotion in Georgia), economic interests (access to Caspian Basin energy product and the development of US relations with Azerbaijan), US minority lobbying (US policy towards the Karabagh conflict), and idiosyncratic leadership preference (the personal relationship between Presidents Bush and Saakashvili). This amalgam reflected the weakness of strategic drivers and notably Russia's inability to act on its hegemonic aspirations in the region. As Russian power increases, and its effort to rebuild its influence in the Southern Caucasus grows, the strategic framing of US policy may also be expected to strengthen.
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and South Caucasus

5. A Theoretical Evaluation of Different Faces of Power: US-Turkey Relations Towards Iraq

Author:
Ahmet Sözen
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the use of different forms of power by a (leader/patron/hegemonic) state to get the other (non-leader/client) states to cooperate with its policies. Most of the literature on cooperation operates on the level of bargaining power where the policy changes are directly visible. This article aims to show how the bargaining power model is not adequate in capturing the complete picture of the relationship between Turkey (a non-leader/client state) and the United States (leader/patron state) in their cooperation with regard to Iraq during the Gulf Crisis (1990) and the War against Iraq (2003). Hence, I attempt to show that the three levels of power as discussed by Krause is a better and more comprehensive framework for understanding and explaining the power relationship between Turkey and the US.
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Turkey

6. USA and The New Middle East

Author:
Eddie J. Girdner
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
When the world met with what was really going on in Iraq through the public disclosure of the Abu Ghraib incident in the mass media, in one of my second year courses, despite the common abhorren ce, most of the students agreed that the torturers were personally not responsible for the violence since they were doing their jobs, acting professionally, obeying the commands of the authorities. In fact, what was going on Iraq had already been apparent and functioning long before the US attack on the country, in alliance with Britain. It had already embraced the world under different masks. But its appearance in the visual media left no room for pretexts and for discursive legitimation of capitalist rationality in terms of “sacrifices” from humanity –in terms of alienation- for the sake of the whole world. In this respect, the comments of the second year students in a country, which has been living under neoliberal capitalist system, sponsored by the IMF and World Bank among other international financial institutions, was telling in terms of the hidden recognition of the extent of self- alienation in the capitalist world. The torturers were assumed to have no responsibility due to their alienation; they were just doing their jobs, abiding by the contracts that they signed. The above argument for personal irresponsibility is cruel and feeds the violence that Iraq an d the Iraqis have been facing since the US invasion of Iraq.
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

7. Uluslararası Politikada Karşılıklı Bağımlılık ve Küreselleşme Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Author:
Muharrem Gürkaynak and Serhan Yalçıner
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study aims to evaluate the current position of the interdependence theory which existed in the literature of international relations for over thirty years. The study focuses particularly on the theory of interdependence as formulated by Keohane and Nye and its development. Keohane and Nye's pluralist understanding of international relations got into transformation and drove through several stages with the international system itself. After its early years, the pattern of interdependence has followed up a line of evolution from complex interdependence to globalism The study, after evaluating these stages, discusses the term of interdependence within the context of USA-Japan relations and the linkage of USA with international leadership, and arrives at the conclusion that the terms of interdependence and globalization are not equivalent, but complementary.
Topic:
Political Theory
Political Geography:
United States and Japan

8. Globalizing Uncertainty in the Sphere of Security: Turkey, Quo Vadis?

Author:
Enver Dersan
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study focuses upon the political uncertainty, presumably brought about by the process of globalization. After first discussing some concepts and hypotheses which are fundamental to the study, an overview of Turkey's national security policies is provided. In the second part, the question of Turkey's security is taken up within the context of relations between the U.S.A., EU, and NATO. In conclusion, some suggestions related to Turkey's prospective security policies are proposed.
Topic:
Security and NATO
Political Geography:
United States and Turkey

9. Political Conditionality of Economic Interactions in the Middle East; Turkey's Relations with Iran, Iraq, and Syria

Author:
Mustafa Aydin and Damla Aras
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The political logic (i.e., political perceptions of the ruling elite in a given country and nature of the political relations with other countries) determines economic activity, not the other way around, among the proto-capitalist states of the Middle East. As the political ties has primacy in the region in determining the course of economic relations, even market oriented democratic (or quasi-democratic) countries have to accept the prominence of political-strategic relations when dealing with such states. This paper will examine the interrelated fluctuation of trade and political tensions between Turkey and its immediate Middle Eastern neighbours - Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It will highlight the political determinants of the relationship between these countries; will discuss the role of the US as the independent variable; and will assess the possible effects of the emergence of Justice and Development Party government in Turkey on country's political and economic relations with its Middle Eastern neighbours.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Europe, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

10. Foreign Policy of Islamic Republic of Iran towards Central Asia and Azerbaijan

Author:
Atay Akdevelioglu
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
While Iran did not have a clearly deliniated policy towards Central Aisa (and Azerbaijan) during the Soviet period and conducted its relations through Moscow, it tried to develop constructive engagement with the regional states since the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Iran clearly came to accept the dominant postion of Russia in the region. Although it avoided involvement in internal affairs of the regional countries, Iran's political relations with them have not develop into a satisfactory level. In this, American discouragement of the regional countries to enter close relations with Iran, their identification of political Islam as domestic threat and Iran as its external hub, as well as Iran's own economic and technological weaknesses played important roles. Despite this political weaknesses and US pressures, however, Iran, with its suitable geographic location and acceptance of trampa with the energy reach countries, has emerged as an importan regional economic partner and alternative transit route.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Islam
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, Central Asia, Asia, and Azerbaijan

11. US-Japan Security Treaties: Formation, Evolution and Consequences

Author:
Hakan Gönen
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study examines the formation, evolution and consequences of the US-Japan post-war security relations. Since the end of World War II, the close US-Japan security relationship has benefited both nations. Japan relies on the US for protection from outside attacks by either conventional or nuclear forces. In turn, under the terms of the security treaty, Tokyo lends military bases on Japanese soil to American forces. In this context, Japan has been able to concentrate on rebuilding its economy with relatively little concern for its own defense. But both Tokyo and Washington have begun to reassess their security requirements in view of changing global threats in the post-cold war era.
Topic:
Security and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, and America