Historical Materialist Analysis of Turkish Foreign Policy: Class, State, and Hegemony

Year 2016, Special Issue: Turkish Foreign Policy, 3 - 22, 01.12.2016

Faruk Yalvaç

https://doi.org/10.33458/uidergisi.463081

Cited By: 3

Abstract

This article aims to develop a historical materialist analysis to analyse Turkish Foreign Policy (TFP) as part of what I
refer to as critical foreign policy studies. The paper utilises a critical political economy approach to TFP based on the
Gramscian concept of hegemony and extends it to analyse different foreign policy strategies as hegemonic projects
developed by ruling capital classes to sustain their rule. The paper also presents the concept of hegemonic depth to
resolve the antinomies involved in understanding foreign policy projects as the outcome of a dialectical interplay
between structures and agencies. The concept of hegemonic depth is then used to understand the dynamics of TFP
in terms of the state-capital nexus. Hegemonic depth implies the extent of the embeddedness of capital fractions in
controlling the state apparatus and the functioning of the state. The article also argues for the replacement of the
geopolitical concept of strategic depth with the sociological concept of hegemonic depth to describe this process of
deepening of the neoliberal principles of globalization, the concomitant development of hegemonic projects and their
reflection on TFP. The final section argues that there are always limits to hegemonic depth and that the current Justice
and Development Party government may have difficulties in extending the penetration of its hegemony.

Keywords

Historical materialism, Turkish Foreign Policy, Class and State, Hegemony, Hegemonic Projects, Accumulation Strategy

Türk Dış Politikasının Tarihsel Materyalist Bir Analizi: Sınıf, Devlet ve Hegemonya

Abstract

Bu makale, eleştirel dış politika çalışmaları adını verdiğim bir yaklaşım çerçevesinde Türk Dış Politikası’nın tarihsel materyalist analizini yapmaya yönelik bir çerçeve çizmektedir. Bu doğrultuda eleştirel bir politik iktisat yaklaşımı benimseyerek Gramsci’nin hegemonya kavramını temel almakta ve bu kavramı genişleterek dış politika stratejilerini hakim sınıfların egemenliklerini sürdürmek için geliştirdikleri hegemonya projelerinin bir uzantısı olarak değerlendirmektedir. Makale dış politikanın değerlendirilmesinde yapılar ve failler arasındaki diyalektik ilişkinin nasıl anlaşılması gerektiğine yönelik olarak hegemonik derinlik kavramını önermekte ve devlet-sermaye ilişkisinin incelenmesinde bu kavramı kullanmaktadır. Hegemonik derinlik sermaye sınıflarının devlet kurumları ile bu kurumların işleyişindeki etkilerinin derinliğini ifade etmektedir. Makale bu süreci ifade etmek üzere jeopolitik bir kavram olan stratejik derinlik kavramı yerine, neoliberal küreselleşme ilkeleri ile bunları yansıtan dış politika projelerini ifade etmek üzere sosyolojik bir kavram olan hegemonik derinlik kavramının kullanılmasını önermektedir. Makale hegemonik derinliğin sınırları olduğunu ve mevcut AKP hükümetinin bu sınırlara erişmiş olabileceğini ifade etmektedir.

Keywords

Tarihsel Materyalizm, Turk Dış Politikası, Devlet ve Sınıf, Hegemonya, Hegemonya Projeleri, Hegemonik Derinlik.

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