Turkey's Road to European Union Membership: National Identity and Political Change

ISBN-13: 9780415574693 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 136 str.

Verney, Susannah

Opis

Enlargement to Turkey is arguably the greatest challenge facing the European Union today. After the narrowly averted "train crash" over Cyprus in 2006, the second election victory of the Justice and Development Party in July 2007 opened new prospects for Turkish-EU relations. But in an EU emphasising a collective identity based on shared civilisational values, Turkey’s European credentials have been increasingly called into question. Amending national identity through political change has become the key to the success or failure of the Turkish integration project. This volume examines the EU role in strengthening the domestic pro-reform coalition within Turkey, the paradox - and potential limits - of Turkey’s europeanising Islamists, and the impact of Europeanisation through conditionality, including a case study of Turkish policy towards the Cyprus Question. Also addressed are the Western stereotypes of Turkish identity influencing the country’s EU prospects, notably concerning the role of Islam in precipitating acts of political violence and its association with sexual and political violence in the discourse of European opponents of Turkish accession. Finally, the dynamics of EU accession negotiations are analysed and the potential role of a norm-driven rhetorical strategy in promoting Turkish accession as a moral and democratic imperative is discussed.

Spis treści

1. National Identity and Political Change on Turkey’s Road to EU Membership  2. Turkey in Transition: Opportunities Amidst Peril?  3. Running Around in Circles? The Cyclical Relationship between Turkey and the European Union  4. Muslim Democrats Versus Defensive Nationalists: Political Parties and Paradoxes of Europeanization in Turkey  5. Europeanization Through EU Conditionality: Understanding the New Era in Turkish Foreign Policy  6. Religiosity and Protest Behaviour: The Case of Turkey in Comparative Perspective  7. Turkish Identity on the Road to the EU: Basic Elements of French and German Oppositional Discourses  8. The Dynamics of EU Accession: Turkish Travails in Comparative Perspective  9. Europeanisation and the transformation of Turkey’s Cyprus policy: a case of democratic peace?

O autorze

Susannah Verney is Assistant Professor of European Integration, University of Athens and Editor, South European Society & Politics.

Kostas Ifantis is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Athens.