A POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH TO THE EXPANSION OF TURKISH-GREEK RELATIONS: INTERDEPENDENCE OR NOT?

Year 2009, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 91 - 119, 01.06.2009

Mustafa Kutlay

Abstract

Turkish-Greek bilateral economic relations expanded significantly in the last decade and reached an unprecedented level in history. Given the increasing importance of business groups as a result of the intensifying economic relations, some scholars go on to argue that interdependence theory, which underlines the importance of non-state actors in the decisionmaking process, became relevant within the context of Turkish-Greek relations. In order to assess the relevance of interdependence theory, the determinants of the expansion in bilateral economic relations are analyzed in the present paper. It is argued in the final analysis that although non-state actors especially business groups become visible in the new aura of relations within the framework of interdependence theory, they are not likely to create functional spillover into ‘high politics’ given that the two major determinants in the 2001-2007 period are subject to change in the post-2008 period

Keywords

Turkish-Greek Bilateral Economic Relations, Structure of World Political Economy, Europeanization, Interdependence Theory, International Political Economy.