THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF FOREIGN POLICY: THE INCREASING IMPACT OF CULTURAL FACTORS ON DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURES

Abstract

In this study, the growing impact of cultural factors and identities on the decision-making mechanisms of international actors within the realm of foreign policy will be examined. Through a contextual analysis, we will first develop, from a historical perspective, a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the culture-foreign policy nexus. Then, the changing nature of international politics in the post-Cold War era and the contributions of Constructivist IR theory with regard to a cultural analysis of foreign policy will constitute the focal point of this work. Contrary to the mainstream view prevailing within the IR discipline, the idiosyncrasies of the international actors have incrementally become influential in shaping their behaviors abroad or in limiting the foreign policy options available to decision-makers. Placing individuals at the heart of the analysis and taking the impact of the social processes they have been through will eventually lead to more comprehensive and accurate conclusions. Such an approach will also be helpful in integrating the cultural factors and the identity structures into foreign policy analysis. The analysis of the transforming relations between culture and foreign policy will, in the end, reveal how these factors come to affect foreign policy outputs and the decision-making processes and the extent to which they have become influential.

Keywords

• Constructivism
• Culture
• Identity
• Foreign Policy

DIŞ POLİTİKANIN SOSYAL İNŞASI: KÜLTÜREL FAKTÖRLERİN KARAR ALMA YAPILARINA ARTAN ETKİSİ

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, kültürel faktörlerin ve kimliklerin dış politika alanında devletlerin karar alma mekanizmaları üzerindeki artan etkisi incelenecektir. Öncelikle, bağlamsal bir analizle, kültür ve dış politika kavramlarının kesiştiği noktanın evrimi tarihsel bir perspektiften ele alınacak olup; sonrasında, Soğuk Savaş sonrası dönemde uluslararası politikanın değişen doğası ve İnşacı Uluslararası İlişkiler teorisinin dış politikanın kültürel bir analizini mümkün kılan katkıları, bu çalışmanın odak noktasını oluşturacaktır. Disiplindeki hâkim ana akım görüşün aksine, uluslararası aktörlerin kendilerine özgü özellikleri, uluslararası seviyedeki davranışlarını şekillendirmede veya karar alıcıya uygun dış politika alternatiflerinin belirlenmesinde gittikçe etkili hale gelmektedir. Bireyleri analizin merkezine yerleştirmek ve onların etkileyen sosyal süreçleri hesaba katmak, zaman içerisinde çok daha kapsamlı ve isabetli sonuçlara ulaşılmasını sağlayacaktır. Bu yaklaşım, aynı zamanda, kültürel faktörlerin ve kimlik yapılarının dış politika analizine dahil edilmesine önemli katkıda bulunacaktır. Kültür ve dış politika arasındaki ilişkinin değişen konjonktürdeki değişiminin incelenmesi de kültürel faktörlerin nasıl ve ne ölçüde dış politika çıktıları ve karar alma mekanizmaları üzerinde etkili olduğunu ortaya çıkaracaktır.

Keywords

• İnşacılık
• Kültür
• Kimlik
• Dış Politika

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