Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture

Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture
Republic at Sea

Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture investigates the determinants of Turkey's security policy. It argues that Turkish policy has been dominated by a 'Republican' strategic culture paradigm which is risk-averse, minimalist, insular, and suspicious of the outside world; that exogenous social developments have plunged that dominant paradigm into crisis since the
1980s, bringing some of its core elements (such as upholding the Kemalist order at home) into conflict with other core elements (for example, avoiding dangerous entanglements abroad); and that this has permitted the reassertion of an equally enduring 'Imperial' counter-paradigm which is risk-taking, acquisitive, cosmopolitan, and willing to engage with foreign actors. Detailed case studies of key episodes during the past two decades illustrate how the interplay of the contending paradigms explains the unprecedented assertiveness of Turkish security behavior in recent years, and suggest more general conclusions regarding the role of culture and statecraft in policy formulation during times of flux.

Contents

PART I: TAKING ROOT
Imperial Legacies
Republican Foundations
Cracks in the Edifice
PART II: TAKING SAIL
Turgut Özal and the Gates of Desire
PART III: FLOUNDERING
The Years of Living Dangerously
Dead Ends
Paradigm Crisis
Conclusion: A Second Sailing?
Appendix: National Election Results