- Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi
- Vol: 20 Issue: 78
- From Realist Billiard Balls and Liberal Concentric Circles to Global IR’s Venn Diagram? Rethinking I...
From Realist Billiard Balls and Liberal Concentric Circles to Global IR’s Venn Diagram? Rethinking International Relations via Turkey’s Centennial
Authors : Nora Fisher-onar
Pages : 97-118
Doi:10.33458/uidergisi.1298208
View : 94 | Download : 149
Publication Date : 2023-06-25
Article Type : Research Article
Abstract :The Republic of Turkey continues to grapple with a foundational tension between isolationist impulses steeped in a nationalist, sovereigntist, i.e., realist outlook on the world, and what I call the "embedded liberalism” of the republican project. Yet, neither realism nor liberalism are sufficient, I show, to explain Turkey’s trajectory. Invoking three visions of the international system as envisaged in realism (billiard balls), liberalism (concentric circles), and global IR (which I conceptualize as a Venn diagram), I argue that the last best captures (Turkey’s) challenges and opportunities. My contention is that global IR incorporates constructivist claims regarding historical and social forces in world politics, but also decenters Eurocentric notions of history and society. A timely way to read multipolarity, the approach supports relational learning regarding our overlapping challenges as humanity. Scholars in and of Turkey arguably have a comparative advantage in this space. This is due to their ability, albeit not always actualized, to read the world in plural terms — the epistemological equivalent of Turkey’s proverbial bridging role in world politics.Keywords : history, collective identity, ontological security, (post)colonialism, multipolarity