Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Turkey and the Arab Spring

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorSevgi Akarçeşme,Bülent Aras
Date01 March 2012
Published date01 March 2012
DOI10.1177/002070201206700104
Subject MatterArticle
| International Journal | Winter 2011-12 | 39 |
Turkey’s neighbourhood has been volatile and is coming to shape the
broader parameters of Turkey’s foreign policy. While its location has offered
opportunities and threats, especially during the Cold War, the recent drastic
transformations in Turkey’s immediate neighbourhood are again prompting
major changes in its foreign policy priorities. In the last year or so, not only
has the Arab Spring disrupted the long-established regional order in the
Middle East and North Africa, but the hegemonic decline of the United
States has presented Turkey with both opportunities and threats.
In the newly unfolding global strategic environment, which Zbigniew
Brzezinski has called “global turmoil,” the most signif‌icant systemic trend
has been the hegemonic decline that has created room for maneuver for
other regional powers.1 Hegemonic decline allows a new order to develop
in areas that were previously kept stable by the hegemon. Turkey’s regional
activism and the Arab Spring are occurring simultaneously in this broader
Bülent Aras is chairman of, and Sevgi Akarçeşme advisor at, the centre for strategic
research of Turkey’s ministry of foreign affairs. The views in this article are the authors’
personal perspectives.
1 Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-First
Century (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993).
Bülent Aras & Sevgi Akarçeşme
Turkey and the
Arab spring

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT