Turkey, the Arab Spring and Beyond

It has been almost five years now since a new collective consciousness of Arab masses transformed the political landscape of the Middle East and North Africa. In just a short period of time, the people of the Arab world protested against their rulers, putting an end to long-time authoritarian leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, while bringing others to the eve of collapse. Although the uprisings were initially successful, the people’s strong will to see honour, dignity, rights, and good governance realized within their respective countries was fiercely combated by the ruling strata of these states and their strategies to ensure authoritarian survival.

The changing political landscape and the dynamic processes of the Arab Spring have caught the attention of academics as well. There is a blossoming literature being written on the Arab Spring focusing on social protests, authoritarian resilience and learning, opposition strategies, the rise of non-state actors, state failure, foreign policy, and new the geopolitical landscape. Therefore, with the desire to contribute to this literature, this edited volume aims to address the changing political atmosphere and the challenges of the emerging geopolitical order, particularly focusing on Turkish foreign policy and its response to the Arab Spring. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

Bülent Aras is Professor of International Relations, Sabancı University and a global fellow, Wilson Center. He was the head of the Diplomatic Academy and Center for Strategic Research at Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His recent publications include War in the Gardens of Babylon: Middle East after the Iraqi War (2004), Turkey and the Greater Middle East (2004) and September 11 and World Politics: American Hegemony Reconsidered (2004).

E. Fuat Keyman is Director of Istanbul Policy Center and Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University. Recent publications include Hegemony through Transformations; Democracy, Identity, and Foreign Policy in Turkey (2014), and Symbiotic Antagonism: Competing Nationalisms in Turkey (With Ayşe Kadıoğlu; 2011).