Roads Not Taken: AKP Trajectories Since 2007
Nora Fisher Onar, Department of Politics and International Relations, Bahcesehir University (Turkey), and Center for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (UK)
Overview
The event will take place in the 6th floor board room.
Speaker:
Nora Fisher Onar, Department of Politics and International Relations, Bahcesehir University (Turkey), and Center for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (UK)
Abstract:
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) seems to be a bundle of contradictions. Once an impassioned advocate of EU accession, the AKP today has mixed democratizing discourses with religious metaphors while pursuing domestic and foreign policies animated by realpolitik. For some, this suggests that the AKP is simply opportunistic. Others believe the party's is moved, above all, by an underlying fundamentalist agenda. To better understand the apparent inconsistencies in AKP positions and their ramifications for Turkey's domestic trajectory and relations with the West, this lecture will distill four strands of discourse from the party repertoire: liberal-democratic, religious-conservative, power political, and Ottomanist. It will seek to identify the factors which appear to determine when and why a particular strand is favored over (or paired with) others in any given situation. Cases will include the series of political 'openings' towards traditionally marginalized groups, and debates over constitutional reform, as well as the recent flotilla debacle and its impact on relations with Israel.
Hosted By
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe’s capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include “Ukraine in Europe” – an examination of what it will take to make Ukraine’s European future a reality. But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe’s energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more
History and Public Policy Program
The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs. Read more
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