Ibrahim Murat Kasapsaracoglu

Actors and Dynamics: the Turkish Foreign Policy Decision Making Process During the Cold War, 1945-1991 Ibrahim Murat Kasapsaracoglu

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of decision making in Turkish foreign policy during the Cold War through the evaluation of the impact of Turkish domestic politics on Turkish foreign policy. The main objective of the study is to elaborate the impact of the actors that were involved in the processes of major decisions and the dynamics that shaped the decisions of these actors. The decisions of these actors are analyzed in the light of the impact of the Turkish economy, Turkish constitutional and legal structure, the structure of governments and the parliament, the crises of Turkish politics especially in the period between 1960 and 1980. The study concludes that although the Cold War was a rivalry between the capitalist and communist blocs, the foreign policy behaviors within these blocs were not homogenous. Therefore, as a state within the capitalist bloc throughout this struggle, the Cold War perception of Turkish foreign policy was not identical to that of the other members of the Western bloc and it was also influenced by its domestic politics.