Bulent Aras – författare

What accounts for the regression of Turkey’s stature from a "model" country to one riddled with state crisis and conflict? Unable to adapt to the challenges of the era and failing to respond to ethnic and multicultural political demands for reform, the Turkish state has resisted change and stuck to its ideological roots stemming from the 1930s.In Turkey’s State Crisis, Aras delves into the historical, political, and geopolitical background of the country’s decline. In an effort to delineate the origin of the crisis, Aras investigates several perspectives: the political elites’ attempt to change the administrative system to create a performance-oriented one; the bureaucracy’s response, concerns, and resistance to change; the state’s conflict resolution capacity; and the transformation of foreign/security policy. Providing a comprehensive portrait of the Turkish state’s turmoil, Aras creates a blueprint for the ways in which much-needed reforms can break vicious cycles of political polarization, rising authoritarianism, and weak state institutions.

This edited book takes a critical look at the geopolitics of the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It scrutinizes some of the perennial issues shaping the regional security agenda, as well as the emerging geopolitical trends in the wake of a decade of turmoil triggered by the demands for political and economic reforms. The contributors explore the geopolitical implications of the structural transformation process in the MENA region and beyond, which has unleashed destabilizing forces and multifaceted conflicts, with the involvement of many local, regional and global actors. They also look at how some of the regional actors have reacted to the risks and security challenges produced by the wave of instability and conflicts, and conducted their foreign policy in this volatile period of fluid alliances. Other contributors explore the roles and perspectives of major extra-regional actors, delving deeper into how they have adjusted their policies towards the emergence of a new order and reshuffling of alignments. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of politics, international relations, and political geography. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

This edited book takes a critical look at the geopolitics of the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It scrutinizes some of the perennial issues shaping the regional security agenda, as well as the emerging geopolitical trends in the wake of a decade of turmoil triggered by the demands for political and economic reforms. The contributors explore the geopolitical implications of the structural transformation process in the MENA region and beyond, which has unleashed destabilizing forces and multifaceted conflicts, with the involvement of many local, regional and global actors. They also look at how some of the regional actors have reacted to the risks and security challenges produced by the wave of instability and conflicts, and conducted their foreign policy in this volatile period of fluid alliances. Other contributors explore the roles and perspectives of major extra-regional actors, delving deeper into how they have adjusted their policies towards the emergence of a new order and reshuffling of alignments. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of politics, international relations, and political geography. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.