Commissioned Book Review: Bülent Aras, Turkey’s State Crisis: Institutions, Reform and Conflict
| Author | Meltem Ozel |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221108580 |
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
Political Studies Review
2023, Vol. 21(2) NP15 –NP16
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Commissioned Book Review
1108580PSW0010.1177/14789299221108580Political Studies ReviewCommissioned Book Review
book-review2022
Commissioned Book Review
Turkey’s State Crisis: Institutions,
Reform and Conflict by Bülent Aras. New
York: Syracuse University Press, 2022. 161,
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3748-6 (hardcover);
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3734-9 (paperback);
ISBN: 978-0-8156-5535-0 (e-book)
‘Turkey’s State Crisis: Institutions, Reform
and Conflict’, written by Bülent Aras will
be of interest to scientists interested in or
connected with international relations and
political science, as well as journalism and
public relations. Bülent Aras’ professional
background in his academic career, his
experience as the head of the Strategic
Research Center and Diplomatic Academy
of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and his observations on the foreign and
security policy apparatus of the Turkish
state meet in this book.
The book contains a wealth of informa-
tion on historical, political and geopolitical
background of the state crisis. It examines
the state crisis from several perspectives,
presents a comprehensive picture of state
institutions and political parties and pro-
poses predictions for the reform process.
The book will also throw a light on the
impact of the coup attempt on 15 July 2016
which was the breaking point and changed
many dynamics in Turkey, on the state cri-
sis. The author emphasizes the need of
institutional reform in Turkey and provides
a rich set of references while his work itself
makes an important contribution to the lit-
erature and becomes a reference for pre-
sent and future scholars.
Public diplomacy contributes to the
reduction of conflicts between countries
and societies and the development of
long-term relations by building mutual
relations and understanding. Countries
need public diplomacy policies in order to
use their power capacities effectively.
When soft power elements are not evalu-
ated within the scope of public diplomacy
policy, soft power cannot be used effec-
tively. As the author mentions Turkey’s
democratic and prosperous Muslim coun-
try role has declined over the past decade.
In this context, the book argues the erosion
of an active and soft-power approach in
Turkish foreign policy. The book also
glances at Turkish policy, which is defined
as a hard power in regional politics. He
provides a good explanation for entailed
publi c dip lomacy as ‘Turkey’s conflictual
geo strategic map entails comprehensive
peacemaking and coalition-building pro-
cesses, as well as sophisticated cadres of
negotiators and public diplomacy experts’
(p. 61).
The book consists of five chapters with
subsections dealing with political crisis,
state and institutions, conflict resolution,
foreign and security policy, and reforming.
While the topics are written in a way that
makes it easy to follow, the important
international relations jargons it contains
make it very “delightful” to read.
The first chapter of the book introduces
Turkey’s political crisis, and the author par-
ticularly emphasizes the issues, such as:
presidential elections in 2007, constitutional
referendum in 2010, referendum on presi-
dential system, Gülenists and the Justice
and Development Party (AKP) relations,
power game between military–judiciary
bureaucracy and the political elite, Kurdish
problem and the role of the National
Security Council (MGK). According to
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