Carlos Escude's Peripheral Realism Approach: On Foreign Policy Behavior of the “Other States”

Year 2024, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 128 - 140, 30.06.2024

Ahmet Göksel Uluer

Abstract

Peripheral Realism is a theoretical framework developed by Argentine political scientist and foreign policy advisor Carlos Escude to analyze Argentinian foreign policy in the 1990s. It problematizes the mainstream IR literature's focus on the great powers and the secondary role given to states on the periphery of international politics, or more precisely, the failure to develop a perspective specific to peripheral states. In this sense, an attempt is made to define particular foreign policy behaviors for "other states" interpreted "according to them" in the shadow of the great powers in order to overcome a weakness in theories of international relations. This paper discusses the place of Peripheral Realism in different theoretical accounts of “other states”, the value of the arguments developed by the approach in the case of Argentina, and the case studies of other authors focusing on the foreign policy behavior of peripheral states other than Argentina. Thus, the attempt of Peripheral Realism to overcome this weakness was evaluated. First, peripheral, small, weak or “other states” are examined in terms of their individual and alliance behavior in foreign policy. The state-society complex perspective, which the author builds on the shortcomings in the literature, is presented, which is based on citizen rather than state-based and on actors of different characters in a hierarchical system rather than identical actors in an anarchic system. Secondly, different examples of foreign policy analyses analyzed with the Peripheral Realism approach are examined. Finally, it is discussed what this approach means within Realist theories and what criticisms can be brought and developed on this approach.

Keywords

Peripheral Realism, Carlos Escude, international security, foreign policy, international relations theory

Çevresel (Periferik) Realizm Yaklaşımı: “Diğer Devletler”in Dış Politika Davranışına Dair

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, Uluslararası İlişkiler teorilerinden Realizmin bir alt kolu olarak yorumlanabilecek Çevresel Realizm, mahiyeti, arka planı ve üzerine getirilebilecek eleştirilerle bir arada değerlendirilmektedir. Çevresel Realizm, Arjantinli siyaset bilimci ve dış politika danışmanı Carlos Escude’nin 1990’lı yıllarda Arjantin dış politikasını analiz etmek üzere geliştirdiği bir teorik çerçevedir. İlk olarak, yaklaşımın genel Uluslararası İlişkiler teorileri ve özel olarak Realist teoride gördüğü eksiklikler ele alınmıştır. Bu çerçevede Çevresel Realizm, Uluslararası İlişkiler literatüründe büyük güçlerin gölgesinde kalmış çevre (periferi), küçük, zayıf veya “diğer devletler”in dış politikadaki tekil ve ittifak içi davranışlarını inceleyen görüşler ışığında yorumlanmıştır. Yazarın literatürdeki eksiklikler üzerine bina ettiği, devlet temelli değil yurttaş temelli ve anarşik bir sistemin içerisinde özdeş değil hiyerarşik bir sistemin içerisinde farklı karakterdeki aktörler olarak temellendirdiği devlet-toplum kompleksi bakış açısı sunulmuştur. İkinci olarak, Çevresel Realizm yaklaşımı ile analiz edilen farklı dış politika analiz örnekleri incelenmiştir. Son olarak, bu yaklaşımın Realist teoriler içerisinde ne ifade ettiği ve yaklaşım üzerine hangi eleştirilerin getirilerek geliştirilebileceği tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

Çevresel Realizm, Carlos Escude, uluslararası güvenlik, dış politika, uluslararası ilişkiler kuramları

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