Human Security in Turkey

This edited volume explores human security challenges in the context of Turkey.

Turkey occupies a critical geopolitical position between Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus. It is an important peace-broker in regional conflicts and a leading country in peacekeeping operations, and has been a generous donor for disaster response around the world. However, Turkey is also facing a number of fundamental sociocultural and development challenges and its internal stability is affected by a protracted armed conflict based on Kurdish separatism. In other words, Turkey is at a crossroads in its transformation from a state-centred security perspective to one based on human security.

To explore selected human security challenges within a wider context of peace and development, this volume focuses on a number of key issues in relation to democratization and social cohesion, before going on to investigate the role of Turkey as an agent of peace in the international context. Written by academics from the fields of peace studies, international relations, politics and development studies, the discussions examine and highlight the issues that Turkey must overcome if it is to successfully strengthen its human security trajectories in the near future.

This book will be of much interest to students of human security, Turkish politics, conflict management, peace studies and IR in general.

Alpaslan Özerdem is Professor of Peacebuilding and Director of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University, UK. He is co-editor of Participatory Research Methodologies in Development and Post Disaster/Conflict Reconstruction (2010) and co-author of Managing Emergencies and Crises (2011), among other books. He is also Chief Editor of the Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security.

Füsun Özerdem is Assistant Professor in Political Science and International Relations at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey. Her main areas of expertise are EU regional policy, Turkey’s accession to the EU, cross-border cooperation programmes, EU social policy and human security.