Libya as a Testing Ground in the Great Power Politics of Russia

Abstract

The objective of this article is to investigate whether Russia is really a great power in the context of the policies that it has pursued in the crisis in Libya. In order to avoid the limitations of the Classical Realism and Neo-realism prioritising state or international system in their level of analyses, the study examines the question of if Russian great power status is relevant within the framework of the presumptions falling into the Neo-classical Realist thinking in international politics. Having defined the necessary elements determining the great power status of states in the sets of the realist theoretical analyses, the work intends to explain the extent to which Russia’s policies and de facto presence in Libya are part of those conceptual settings. In line with these objectives, the article argues that Russia’s policy in Libya, after the interference of NATO to the country, has been largely shaped by the acceptance of being a great power, as being the main driving force, fed by the ideational and material sources of the Russian state. Having used the method of qualitative content analysis, the article has proved that the policies of Russia in Libya and towards the same country in international level are to a large extent related to maintain and further expand the Russian great power status and could be best explained by the assumptions that the Neo-classical Realist theory contains in international politics.

Keywords

• Russia
• Great Power
• Libya
• Middle East
• Neo-classical Realism

Rusya’nın Büyük Güç Siyasetinde Test Alanı Olarak Libya

Öz

Bu çalışma Rusya’nın büyük güç olup olmadığını devletin Libya krizindeki siyaseti üzerinde incelemeyi hedeflemiştir. Klasik Realizmi ve Neo-realizmi benimseyen çalışmaların analiz hususunda devlet ya da yapı düzeylerinden birisini kullanmalarına bağlı sınırlarından özgürleştirebilmek amacıyla bu çalışmada, Rusya’nın büyük güç olup olmadığı Neo-klasik Realist çerçeveye içkin olarak incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada Realizm kökenli kuramların bir büyük güçte olması gereken unsurlara dair çözümleme setlerinin saptanarak, Rusya’nın Libya siyasetinin ve buradaki de facto varlığının, bu setlerin işaret ettiği kavramsal çerçeveye içkin olarak anlamlandırılması ve açıklanması hedeflenmektedir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda çalışma, Rusya’nın NATO müdahalesi sonrasındaki Libya siyasetinin, devletin düşünsel ve maddi kaynaklarıyla beslenen büyük güç anlayışıyla şekillendiğini savunmakta ve büyük güç anlayışının en temel itici güç olduğunu iddia etmektedir. İçerik analizine dayanan nitel araştırma yöntemine sadık kalan bu çalışma, Rusya’nın Libya’da ve bu ülkeye yönelik uluslararası düzeyde izlemiş olduğu siyasetin büyük ölçüde kendi büyük güç statüsünü korumak ve daha da öteye taşımak amacını taşıdığı bulgusuna ulaşmış, bunu da en etkin şekilde Neo-klasik Realist teorik yaklaşımın öngörülerinin açıkladığı sonucuna varmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Rusya
• Büyük Güç
• Libya
• Orta Doğu
• Neo-klasik Realizm

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