There exist multiple parallel realities that render a single deterministic approach to the analysis of power, politics and society futile. Postcolonialism is the approach that recognizes the vitalities of alternative and subaltern perspectives to the analysis of politics among the states. This approach relies heavily on the historical experiences and grievances of the colonized people to highlight the atrocities committed by the imperial states that happen to the perpetrators of a self-proclaimed egalitarian world order.…
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Every economic activity is based on two components: effort and reward. Rent is the income derived from possessions. Rentier is the one who gets the reward from renting his possession instead of actively participating in economic activity.
A rentier state derives its income exclusively/predominantly from external rent; even though every economy is partly based on generation rent through gifts of nature.…
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“One, who regards himself as a member of the Turkish nation, should first of all and in every case, speak Turkish.”
― Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Atatürk
“Jews are creatures who possess the capacity to adapt to their respective environments.”
― Marsel Franko, President of the Lay Council of the Chief Rabbinate and of the Jewish Community
The inhabitants of Anatolia – the People of Turkey – can be duly proud of their cosmopolitan past.…
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The threat of another great war between China and the United States is eminent. The ideological and systematic parameters make the war likely in the near future even if the intensity of the current situation is nothing compared to the tensions emerging during the Cold War. If we look back to the history of the relations between China and the United States, it was not until 1979 that the latter recognized the government of the Mainland China – alternatively known as the People’s Republic of China – as the legitimate ruler of the state.…
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This (no so-good) policy paper was written as a requirement for POLS 328 – Theories of International Relations course offered by Asst. Professor Ismail Yaylaci, during my sophomore year at Istanbul Şehir University.
Executive Summary:
As the current ideal policy is failing to bring about any good, Turkey needs more rational and real Egypt policy that transcends the personal desires of the political elites.…
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Some of the few major issue areas are discussed below.
National Identity:
Ottoman Empire contained a diverse population with multitude of lingual, ethnics and religious affiliations. This diversity was a product of the vast territory that Ottomans controlled – held together by the virtue of Islamic identity of the Empire. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent struggle for independence, people of Turkey were able to secure a relatively small territory and rather homogenized populace.…
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Legacy is the selective cluster of events, incidents, memories, structures that have profound impact on the contemporary behavior of an entity.[1] Ottoman Empire – in this regards – has produced myriads of such elements, which have direct or indirect contributions to Turkish Foreign Policy formulation. Contrary to that, many variables has either been updated or replaced over the course of history.…
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Imagine if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism. The ideology that dominates our lives has, for most of us, no name. Mention it in conversation and you’ll be rewarded with a shrug. Even if your listeners have heard the term before, they will struggle to define it.…
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None of us knew what was upon us!
My friend was in an unusual melancholy like something unpleasant was about to happen. We received a phone call at 22:36. A friend – in panic – told us to stay put. She suggested that there was a probable terrorist attack around Üsküdar and consequent military mobilization to thwart it.…
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The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu approaches power within the context of a comprehensive ‘theory of society’ which – like that of Foucault – we can’t possibly do justice to here, or easily express in the form of applied methods (Navarro 2006). And although his subject was mainly Algerian and French society, we have found Bourdieu’s approach useful in analysing power in development and social change processes (see the articles by Navarro, Moncrieffe, Eyben and Taylor and Boser in Eyben, Harris et.…
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