A Realist Reassessment of Turkısh-Russıan Relatıons, 2002-2012: From the Peak to the Dip?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

          Şener Aktürk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Koç University, and Foreign Policy Expert at the Caspian Strategy Institute. He received both his B.A. in Political Science and his M.A. from the Committee on International Relations from the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2009-2010, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and a visiting lecturer in the Department of Government, both at Harvard University. His book, Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. He has published more than thirty academic articles, including in World Politics, Post-Soviet Affairs, European Journal of Sociology, Middle Eastern Studies, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Nationalities Papers, Theoria, Ab Imperio, Insight Turkey, Doğu Batı, Turkish Studies, JAGNES, Central Eurasian Studies Review, ISEEES Newsletter, Journal of Academic Studies, and Hemispheres. He has also published book chapters for nine edited books in English Turkish, and Russian, in addition to articles in three encyclopedias, and numerous op-eds in Turkish and English for Radikal, Zaman, Sabah, Taraf, Yeni Şafak, Star, Today’s Zaman, and Hurriyet Daily News. He was the recipient of several prizes and awards including, 2011 Baki Komsuoğlu Social Sciences Encouragement Award, 2010 Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award, 2009 Teaching Effectiveness Award, and 2006 Peter Odegard Memorial Award ….

 

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL PDF VERSION OF THE ARTICLE: Akturk_2013_Turk_Rus_Relations

 

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CASPIAN STRATEGY INSTITUTE CENTER FOR POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS STUDIES

 

 

“Russia remains the most important, and arguably the only, great power in Turkey’s immediate neighborhood. Therefore, the determinants of peace and conflict between Russia and Turkey deserve our utmost attention. The state of Turkish-Russian relations will be a key factor—if not the decisive factor—in determining whether Turkey will continue to grow in a peaceful environment or whether Turkey’s future prospects will be mired in direct or proxy conflict with Russia.  In 2002, the Secretary General of Turkish National Security Council, General Tuncer Kılınç, proposed to form an alliance between Turkey, Russia, and Iran, against the members of the European Union, but without disregarding the interests of the United States.1 Especially following Turkey’s refusal to allow U.S. troop deployments in Turkey in preparation for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, even several prominent American policy analysts pointed out to an emerging Turkish-Russian axis based on their exclusion from and opposition to multiple facets of the American grand strategy.2 Apart from foreign policy, in domestic politics and also in the media, there was an unprecedented rise of Turco-Russian “Eurasianism,”3 described by some as the original and current geopolitical vision of Kemalism, Turkey’s founding ideology.4 Even at the official level, Turkish-Russian relations were already described as a “strategic partnership.” Ten years later, in 2012, Turkey and Russia found themselves on different sides of the Syrian civil war. . . .”

 

Conflict in International Politics – A Literature Review

 

 

 

“Conflict in International Politics: A Literature Review” written by Ryan Timothy Jacobs (September 7th, 2015) is an analysis of the various schools of thought; in regards to how conflict is a normal aspect of international relations.  The value of the political philosophy that examines “why we fight” is essential to any individual that had an interest in international relations, from the beginning of human history, up until present day sovereign states and other international actors.  This article, that I began writing in my graduate program at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, introduces the Dependency Paradigm (Realists & Neorealists), Learned Cooperation (Institutionalism & International Mechanisms), Constructivism (such as Social Norms, Values & Beliefs and Social Networking), Post-Cold War Era (Ethnicity & Nationalism), Asymmetric Warfare (analyzing “Seven Deadly Tactics”), the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Social & Political Dynamics), and provides Conflict Management and Resolution Recommendations; regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, as well as Middle Eastern Rebel Organizations.  The brief, twenty-three page article, introduces these various aspects of International Conflict as an introduction to those interested in exactly how in-depth conflict has impacted the world in which we live on a day-to-day basis.  It also approaches conflict and conflict management from various perspectives, in order to illustrate a more objective examination of international conflict.  The historical accession within the article details the seemingly evolutionary way that conflict has been managed and/or resolved, but also aims to detail that the vast majority of scholarly research has yet to be fully recognized by the international community, in order to further humanities ability to manage and resolve these issues that commonly arise out of a difference of political, religious, cultural, and economic reasoning that often is difficult to reach compromise between sovereign states.

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE .DOC VERSION OF THE ARTICLE:  Conflict in International Politics – Literature Review – CMR 525

 

 

In the field of political science, large-scale conflict, and its resolution is analyzed through several different lenses.  The theory of war however, tends to be rooted in classical and neorealist theories and focuses on security and power.  Both domestic and international conflict can also be analyzed through the dependency paradigm.  At the same time, theories of conflict resolution that exclude force with the exception of deterrence theory, are rooted in stitutionalism, and focuses on learned cooperation )game theory), sanctions, international law, and other international mechanisms for resolving stemming conflict.  Constructivism, on the other hand, tends to focus on more abstract elements such as “collective memories” and identify politics….

 

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“The Rise of Females in Terrorist Organizations: An Intercultural Conflict in the Muslim and Western Worlds”

“The Rise of Females in Terrorist Organizations: An Intercultural Conflict in the Muslim and Western Worlds” written by Ryan Timothy Jacobs (March 26th, 2015)

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PDF: The Rise of Females in Terrorist Organizations-An Intercultural Conflict in the Muslim and Western Worlds

 

Article in Conflict & Terrorism, Volume 30, Issue 5 2007 “The Female Jihad: Al Qaeda’s Women”

DOI: 10.1080/10576100701258585

Katharina Von Knop^a

pages 397-414

 

ABSTRACT

When women carry out a suicide attack they undermine the idea of who and what a terrorist is. What is generally not realized is the extent to which women are involved in terrorism. The purpose of this article is to explore and to analyze the multifaceted roles of the women in the movement of Al Qaeda. The argument is that the role of the women the world audience perceives is the one of a suicide bomber but the role of an ideological supporter and operational facilitator is more important for the maintenance of the operational capabilities and the ideological motivation for a terrorist organization. This article argues that the women follow a gender-specific interpretation of the radical ideology, the female Jihad. The concept of the female Jihad means that the women carry out a political act by supporting their male relatives, educating their children in the ideology and facilitating terrorist operations. The female Jihad is defective when the women follow the male Jihad interpretation of the Jihad by carrying out attacks. For the survival of a terrorists organization women are more important when they follow the female version of the ideology. Because the men could get arrested, die in an attack, or could get shot by the security forces, the women continue to take care about the financial issues of the organization and continue to educate the children in the “right” belief. To verify these arguments the article is divided into three parts. The first part will look at the motivation of women participation at a terrorism organization and the motivation of a terrorism organization to use women for its purposes. The second part tries to throw some light on the female suicide bombers who acted under the umbrella of the movement of Al Qaeda. In this part the female terrorist attacks will be analyzed. In the third part Sisterhoods will be explained and the concept of the female Jihad will be analyzed. The findings of this article about the involvement of women in the movement of Al Qaeda will bring us to conclusion that women do play an essential role in these organizations and groups. Following the argument that successful counterterrorism should address both the motivation and the operational capabilities of a terrorist organization there is an essential need for the national security forces to expand their capabilities to look more carefully at women. . .

 

 

*additional research on the topic of female terrorism provided @ http://www.terrorism-research.com/blog/female-terrorism/