FEAS RESEARCH E-BULLETIN FEAS E-BULLETIN DECEMBER 2016 | Page 18

Author: Yükselen, Hasan
Title: Turkey’s Changing Discourses of Strategy: A Critical Realist Analysis
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Faruk Yalvaç
Department: International Relations
Date: July 2016
Abstract: This dissertation analyzes Turkey's changing discourses of security strategy since the
foundation of the Republic. The concept of strategy, which is classically analyzed through the level of
analysis distinction, is handled through employing the ontological depth concept of critical realism. To
reach an historical and sociological analysis, the concept of strategy, which is conceived as an agential
attribute, is analyzed within the dynamic interaction of agent and structure. In this way, agential and
ideational aspects of strategy, conceived as ends that was tended to be forgotten or neglected in favor
of material aspects conceived as means, can be analyzed from a dialectical perspective. In other words,
this dissertation incorporates the evolution of strategy within the dialectics of agent-structure in which
agency intentionally strives to overcome the constraining effects of structure through emancipatory
strategies. In Turkish Foreign Policy, agency showed no hesitancy to formulate strategies and represent
them through discourses. However, what is spoken – discourses – about strategy could not always be
realized in outcomes as what is actualized. This dissertation seeks an explanation to the source of
incongruence between what is spoken and what is actualized. This dissertation contributes to the
existing literature on critical realist analysis of Turkish Foreign Policy by incorporating the concept of
strategy and strategic discourse within this framework.

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