Category: Articles of Volume 4, Issue 1

Justyna Misiągiewicz

Abstract

The new international situation after the cold war made Turkey a far more active and pragmatic player. Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in the Turkish foreign policy. Turkey is one of the world’s fastest growing energy markets and importer of energy resources. The country’s geographic location made it play a special role in international relations. It is a natural bridge connecting Europe and the Caspian and Middle Eastern energy producing states. Turkey’s aim is to participate in the EU’s energy policy as a center of transit and distribution of oil and gas. It will make possible for the European Union to avoid the energy transmission through Russia. It is anticipated that 6 to 7% of global oil supply will be transported via Turkey by 2012 and that Ceyhan will become a major energy hub and the largest oil outlet terminal in the Eastern Mediterranean. In this way Turkey wants to speed up its integration with the European Union. EU will probably systematically include Turkey in developing its energy strategy.

Keywords: Energy, Mediterranean Region, Security, Strategy

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George Koukoudakis

Abstract

This article focuses on the challenges that the political and constitutional development of European Union (EU) poses to the neo-realist paradigm. European integration constitutes a unique experiment in international integration and, especially since the mid-1980s, in large-scale polity-formation. Moreover, a “security community” in the sense of Deutsch has emerged among the component polities of the EU, something that comes in stark contrast to the Hobbesian view of international politics as an arena within which power-hungry states find themselves in constant competition with each other. Instead, the EU represents a unique exercise in peaceful voluntary integration and has played a crucial role in the transformation of the domestic orders of the component states, shaping their interests and behaviour, while contributing to a reconceptualisation of state sovereignty. It thus challenges the explanatory power of state-centric neo-realism. Also, the building of a European polity challenges the unitary character of the state – an assumption underlying most realist premises – as questions of subnational representation and mobilisation are now part of the EU’s system of governance. Hence, a multilevel polity has emerged in Europe characterised by complex patterns of interaction among state and non-state actors. The proposed study, by examining normative discourses on European polity-formation, challenges the analytical validity of the neo-realist paradigm and raises the question for new theoretical orientations in international relations of post bipolar Europe.

Keywords: European Integration, Neorealism, European Union, State
Sovereignty

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Elem Eyrice Tepeciklioğlu

Abstract

Mediterranean is the birthplace of different ancient cultures and civilizations, however, the countries in the opposite shores of this sea share historically distinct political, cultural and socio-economic characteristics. Despite these differences, increasingly rising scholars as well as politicians emphasize the need to promote cooperation and socio-cultural dialogue in the region which is expected to eventually lead to the emergence of a Mediterranean community. Within the context of this article, the possibility of the establishment of such a formation will be analyzed by elaborating the major obstacles on the emergence of this community and on a fruitful mutual dialogue. The main question of the study, therefore, will be to what extent the internal as well as external dynamics have an influence on the development of this regional partnership process. The role of international organizations in coordinating regional co-operation and facilitating the appearance of the Mediterranean community along with the different views as the northern African perspectives on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) process –through Barcelona Process which was evolved into the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)- is also a great concern of this article. It will be concluded that it is not possible to create a Mediterranean community in the very near future even though international institutions can play a significant role in yielding security, stability and a firm regional cooperation in the Mediterranean littoral.

Keywords: Barcelona Process, Union for the Mediterranean, Euro-
Mediterranean Partnership, Mediterranean Community, Regional Integration.

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Jacquelynne Modeste

Abstract

Since the Cold War, jazz has been inextricably linked with US cultural identity, foreign policy, and international relations. Since its inception, jazz has been linked to African Americans living in the US. The exportation of legendary African American jazzmen such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington during the Cold War period is well documented but what of their particular style of jazz? Armstrong and Ellington used the blues to ground their compositions artistically and also as part of a self-conscious effort to keep the traditions of African Americans in contemporary consciousness. What is it about the hybrid, blues-based jazz, which captivated audiences internationally? In what ways does the blues influence swing, their preferred form of jazz? This essay moves towards a definition of blues-based jazz, describes the cultural significance of the hybrid form, and identifies its pervasiveness in areas previously undocumented.

Keywords: Jazz, Blues, National Identity, Train Whistle, Diplomacy

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Chris Brown

Abstract

The “practice turn” in International Relations is a promising development which can be linked both to the Aristotelian notion of practical wisdom and the classical realist virtue of “prudence”. There are family resemblances here, here but also differences; for Aristotle and the realists, practical wisdom is associated more with the intellect, while the practice turn places great emphasis on the role of habitual behaviour. The practice turn offers an alternative to neopositivist conceptions of the conduct of social enquiry – but the classical realists could argue that they have already trodden this route in the past. Still, the implications of Aristotle’s comment that “prudent young people do not seem to be found” need to be confronted. Is “competent practice” something that can be achieved by study, or is it only achievable in the context of the kind of lived experience that some of the classical realists could claim, but which few modern students of International Relations can aspire to.

Keywords: Practice, Prudence, Realism, Bourdieu, Morgenthau

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Kees Van der Pijl

Abstract

In this paper, based on the keynote speech at the METU Conference on Rethinking International Relations, 15-17 June 2011, I argue that academic discipline functions as an extension of the class/state discipline on the population. Disciplinary division of labour in academia began when the classical political economy perspective, which had been turned into a political programme of the labour movement by Marx, was reformulated as marginalism in the late 19th century. International Relations (IR) after World War I was also turned into an academic specialisation, targeting, along with the Russian Revolution, the critique of imperialism. The third part of the paper discusses how the ostracism of Marxism has entailed deleting the crucial Kant-Hegel-Marx transition in philosophy from static antinomy to historical dialectics. As a result social science stagnates into a repetition of identical positions under new labels. What this entails will be discussed by taking the example of Andrew Abbott’s argument about “syncresis”. The paper concludes with a brief outline of a historical materialist alternative to the mainstream IR canon.

Keywords: Western Hegemony, International Relations, Social Discipline,
Academic Discipline

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