Güvenlik, Enerji ve Göç Çalışmaları Bağlamında Bölge Çalışmalarının Bilimsel Statüsü

Abstract

Bölge Çalışmaları, Soğuk Savaş döneminde stratejik bilgi üretme ihtiyacından doğmuş ve kökenleri sömürgecilik pratiklerine dayanan, bu nedenle bilimsel statüsü sürekli sorgulanan disiplinler arası bir alandır. Bu makale, Bölge Çalışmalarının bilimsel değerinin, soyut metodolojik tartışmalardan ziyade, güvenlik, enerji ve göç gibi 21. yüzyılın karmaşık, çok katmanlı ve bağlama-bağımlı küresel sorunlarına uygulandığında en net şekilde ortaya çıktığını savunmaktadır. Çalışma, alanın epistemolojik zeminini, pozitivizm-post-pozitivizm eksenindeki konumunu ve Oryantalizm gibi temel eleştirileri analiz ederek başlamaktadır. Ardından, Kopenhag Okulu’nun Güvenlikleştirme ve Bölgesel Güvenlik Kompleksi Teorileri üzerinden güvenliğin bölgesel ve sosyal inşasını, Doğu Akdeniz’deki enerji jeopolitiği üzerinden kaynak rekabetinin tarihsel ve kimliksel kökenlerini ve Göç Çalışmalarındaki mekânsal dönüş üzerinden insan hareketliliğinin yerel bağlamlarını incelemektedir. Bu üç Tematik vaka analizinde nitel doküman analizi yöntemi kullanılarak, Bölge Çalışmalarının sunduğu derinlemesine bağlamsal bilginin, evrenselci teorilerin tek başına açıklayamadığı dinamikleri anlamak için vazgeçilmez olduğunu göstermektedir. Sonuç olarak, alanın bilimsel statüsünün, evrensel yasalar üretme kapasitesinde değil, karmaşık olguları kendi bağlamları içinde açıklama ve anlama gücünde yattığı ve geleceğinin Eleştirel Bölge Çalışmalarının öz-düşünümsel ve bağlamsalcı yaklaşımında şekillendiği iddia edilmektedir. Bu çalışma, Bölge Çalışmalarını sadece betimsel bir alan olmaktan çıkarıp, küresel sorunların çözümünde teoriyi bağlamla test eden kritik bir bilimsel disiplin olarak yeniden konumlandırması bakımından önemlidir.

Keywords

• Bölge Çalışmaları
• Eleştirel Bölge Çalışmaları
• Güvenlikleştirme
• Enerji Jeopolitiği
• Göç Çalışmaları

The Scientific Status of Area Studies in the Context of Security, Energy, and Migration

Abstract

Area Studies emerged during the Cold War era from the need to generate strategic information and is an interdisciplinary field rooted in colonial practices, hence its scientific status is constantly questioned. This article argues that the scientific value of Area Studies is most clearly demonstrated when applied to complex, multi-layered and context-dependent global issues of the 21st century, such as security, energy and migration, rather than in abstract methodological debates. The study begins by analysing the epistemological grounding of the field, its position on the positivism-post-positivism axis, and fundamental critiques such as Orientalism. It then examines the regional and social construction of security through the Copenhagen School's theories of Securitisation and the Regional Security Complex, the historical and identity-based origins of resource competition through the energy geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the local contexts of human mobility through spatial change in Migration Studies. Using qualitative document analysis in these three thematic case studies, it demonstrates that the in-depth contextual knowledge offered by Area Studies is indispensable for understanding dynamics that universalist theories alone cannot explain. Consequently, it is argued that the scientific status of the field lies not in its capacity to produce universal laws, but in its power to explain and understand complex phenomena within their own contexts, and that its future is shaped by the self-reflective and contextualist approach of Critical Area Studies. This study is significant in that it moves Regional Studies beyond being merely a descriptive field, repositioning it as a critical scientific discipline that tests theory against context in solving global problems.

Keywords

• Area Studies
• Critical Area Studies
• Securitisation
• Energy Geopolitics
• Migration Studies

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