Contemporary Turkish Politics

elective courses

Classroom

This course enable students to develop its knowledge concerning the Turkish contemporary domestic and foreign policy. At the same time it gives the students an opportunity to obtain the broader knowledge of particular type of concepts within basic political science concepts and discuss the issues crucial for the contemporary political systems and international relations.

This course enables students to develop its knowledge concerning the Turkish contemporary domestic and foreign policy. At the same time it gives the students an opportunity to obtain the broader knowledge of particular type of concepts within basic political science concepts and discuss the issues crucial for the contemporary political systems and international relations. Within the course students learn among others about the particular type of such concepts as: “modernization”, “democratization”, “de-democratization”, “nationalism”, “laicism”; “populism”, “soft power”, “hard power” and “middle power”. Presentation of issues concerning the Turkish politics means also discussing such issues as: the European identity, Islam in the contemporary world, Muslim minorities in Europe as well as politics in the Middle East. Estimated total number of hours needed to achieve the learning outcomes – 100 hrs..

I. TURKISH DOMESTIC POLITICS

S. E. Aytaç, E. Elçi, “Populism in Turkey” in Populism Around the World. A Comparative Perspective, ed. Daniel Stockemer, Cham, Springer, 2019, pp. 89-108.

B. Esen, S. Gümüşçü, Rising Competitive Authoritarianism in Turkey, Third World Quarterly, vol. 37, issue 9, 2016, pp. 1581-1606.

B. Esen, S. Gümüşçü, A Small Yes for Presidentialism: The Turkish Constitutional Referendum of April 2017. South European Society and Politics, vol. 22, no. 3, 2017, pp. 303-26.

B. Esen, S. Yardımcı-Geyikçi, The Turkish presidential elections of 24 June 2018, Mediterranean Politics, July 2019, DOI:10.1080/13629395.2019.1619912

P. A. Musil, Emergence of a Dominant Party System After Multipartyism: Theoretical Implications from the Case of the AKP in Turkey, South European Society and Politics, vol. 20, no. 1, 2015, pp. 71-92.

E. Özbudun, Ö. F. Gençkaya, Democratization and the politics of constitution-making in Turkey, Central European University Press 2009, selected chapters.

A. Szymański, J. Wódka, W. Ufel and A. Dziubińska, Between Fair and Rigged. Elections as a Key Determinant of the ‘Borderline Political Regime’ - Turkey in Comparative Perspective”, Peter Lang Verlag 2020, chapter 3.

M. H. Yavuz, Understanding Turkish secularism in the 21th century: a contextual roadmap, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 1, no. 1, 2019, pp. 55-78.

E. Zürcher, Turkey. A Modern History, I. B. Tauris 2005, part 1 and 2.

II. TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY

M. Aydın, The Determinants of Turkish Foreign Policy, and Turkey’s European Vocation, in: G. Nonneman (ed.), Analysing Middle East Foreign Policies and the Relationship with Europe, Routledge 2005, pp. 197-222.

S. Aydın-Düzgit, N. Tocci. Turkey and the European Union. London, New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2015, selected chapters.

A. Cianciara, A. Szymański, Differentiated integration: towards a new model of European Union-Turkey relations? Turkish Studies, vol. 21, no. 2, 2020, pp. 254-273.

A. Murinson, The Strategic Depth Doctrine of Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 42, no. 6, 2006, pp. 945-964.

Z. Öniş, M. Kutlay, The dynamic of emerging middle-power influence in regional and global governance: The paradoxical case of Turkey, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 71, no. 2, 2017, pp.164-183.

S. Özel, G. Uçar, The Economics of Turkey-Russia Relations, Foreign Policy & Security 2019/10 (EDAM).

A. Szymański, ’Domestification’ of the Middle Eastern Policy of Turkey”, in: S. Gardocki, R. Ożarowski, R. Ulatowski (eds.), The Islamic World in International Relations, Peter Lang Verlag 2019, pp. 93-116.

J. Zanotti, C. Thomas, Turkey: Background and U.S. Relations In Brief, Congressional Research Service, 1 September 2020.

Knowledge

1. Be able to characterize the elements of the Turkish political system and relationship between them as well as to compare this system with the political systems of the European states (K_W06)

2. Be able to characterize the democratization process of Turkey and define the role of the civil society in this process (K_W07)

3. Be able to define the particular concepts of modernization, nationalism, laicism and populism developed in Turkey as well as the Turkish concept of the foreign policy (K_W10)

Skills

1. Be able to explain the role of the different elements in the political system of Turkey and the Turkish activities in the international arena (K_U02)

2. Be able to indicate the components of the de-democratization in Turkey and explain their reasons (K_U04)

3. Have foreign language skills in political science according to requirements for B2+ level of the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages (K_U13)

Social competences

1. Be able to develop his/her knowledge of the political science phenomena, taking into consideration the interdisciplinary approach (K_U07)

Assessment depends on the fulfillment of the following requirements:

1. active participation – 10% of the final grade

2. writing successfully the final written exam consisted of quiz and open questions – 90% of the final grade (students should obtain at least half of the points to pass the exam).