Books by Gültekin Sümer
DORUK YAYINLARI, 2020
İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın sonlarıyla birlikte, savaşın galipleri hiç de alışık olmadıkları bir oyun... more İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın sonlarıyla birlikte, savaşın galipleri hiç de alışık olmadıkları bir oyunun içerisine sürüklenmekteydiler. Tanımlaması oldukça güç, daha önce hiç oynanmamış bir oyundu. Perdeyi Doğu Avrupa’da açanların nerede ve nasıl kapanacağını bilemeyecekleri bir oyun. Soğuk Savaş adını alacak olan bu oyun, dünya siyasetini uzun bir süreliğine esir alarak gerek ABD’yi, gerekse de SSCB’yi büyük bir umursamazlıkla uzak coğrafyalarda sonu belirsiz maceralara sürüklemekten geri kalmayacaktı. Cangılları, bataklıkları, tünelleri, hava köprüleri, yeraltı siloları, kitlelere dar gelen meydanları ve de uzaya taşan yarışıyla mekan kavramını bu denli hiçe sayan bir oyun. Bir de, onun ayrılmaz bir parçası olan gündem eskitmede üstüne olmayan amansız bir tempo. Ardı arkası kesilmeyen Berlin bunalımlarıyla, soluk soluğa izlenen Küba Kriziyle, sürpriz Tet Saldırısıyla ve de Doğudan Batıya akıl almaz kaçış öyküleriyle. Ancak tüm bunlar dahi, diplomasi tarihinin bu çok özel dönemiyle adeta özdeşleşmiş olan oyuncuları olmadan eksik kalırdı. Soğuk Savaş’ı asıl yaşatacak olan da onlardı. George Kennan’ın uzun telgrafı, Francis Gary Powers’ın U-2’si, Fidel Castro’nun purosu, Jan Palach’ın mektubu, Afganlı mücahitlerin Stinger’ı ve de isimsiz kahramanların Berlin Duvarı… Hepsi ‘Soğuk Savaş Müzesi’nde.
Conference Papers by Gültekin Sümer
While the strategy of selective engagement merits to be a plausible strategy, it raises a quest... more While the strategy of selective engagement merits to be a plausible strategy, it raises a question mark when it comes to its feasibility. Yet United States is exposed to loss of selectivity as her global engagements do not allow such a strategy to be implemented, because her commitments are too rigid not to allow any selective engagement. United States has rigid engagements like Iran, Israel, NATO, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan which could easily bring her to the line of questioning her supremacy and prestige. These engagements cannot allow US to keep her actions to be selective because they are too rigid to pave the way to strategic shift in her foreign policy. A grand strategy is weakened if its foreign policy cannot shun from geopolitical distractions. On behalf of nullifying the influence of her foes, US can never think herself without a military intervention. Since selective engagement also adopts forward defense strategy, it will require cooperating with every actor regardless of its regime. It is quite natural that in quest for maintaining her global hegemony, the US is looking for a costume for herself both elegant and casual to meet the requirements of a grand strategy. Yet as the US foreign policy is in the post-Cold War world is not inclined to utilize from the variety of the strategic alternatives, such a costume can never be tailored.
The Soviet Union not being able to escape the facts of its own geopolitics turned into a fragi... more The Soviet Union not being able to escape the facts of its own geopolitics turned into a fragile power exposed to strategic traps. Even beyond that her actions signified an overt invitation to strategic traps. Therefore, it is possible to summarize the story of Soviet Cold War policies as the manifest of disharmony between ideology and strategy. She was not able to escape the circumstances geopolitics of the Soviet Union has confronted as a Eurasian power. Briefly this can be seen as the strategic story of the Soviet Union as an Eurasian hegemonic power. Notwithstanding this, the Soviet experience in the Second World War formed one of the parameters of Soviet security and strategic doctrine that can never be neglected. Europe which once referred a strategic superiority has turned into a strategic trap for the Soviet regime.
When the international order is not able to absorb the influence of a great power, it becomes exp... more When the international order is not able to absorb the influence of a great power, it becomes exposed to the pressures of that great power. It has been evident that Russia as the heir of Soviet foreign policy, could neither achieve to integrate herself into the international order, nor could the international order achieve to find a solution to Russian foreign policy identity quest. It is essential to admit that the US-led Cold War victory, has caused a geopolitical pressure on Russia with an expanded NATO and the EU zones. Such a political geography has narrowed Russian foreign policy alternatives and confirmed her revisionist identity towards the existing international order. In other words, the emerging political geography has not allowed Russia to wear a foreign policy uniform that would fit her size in world politics. The responses that Russia gives in Ukraine and Syria crises have demonstrated that she formulates a foreign policy on the relics of her Soviet past with geopolitics as the sole alternative. As long as Russia cannot find a stable and permanent status for herself in the world politics, her foreign policy will signify a permanent instability on the behalf of the international order.
The North Atlantic Alliance which owes its existence to the achievement of Cold War objectives wa... more The North Atlantic Alliance which owes its existence to the achievement of Cold War objectives was assumed to extend its life span following the end of the Cold War. As the triumphant organization of the Cold War, the enlargement was a quite rational choice. By that, NATO has been promoted to the position of being the main security provider in the European political geography. With this new role, the organization has created its own raison d’être of giving responses that is far from corresponding to the security necessities of Europe. With the obscuring of the offense-defence lines, the organization has come to the point of not perceiving the security challenges in Europe correctly. This has been observed in the organization’s disability of determining the delicate offense-defence balance in its relations with Russia. It was no surprising that a security organization conditioned to enlarge has imprisoned the security of the whole continent to zero-sum game logic since the sensory capability of the organization which bears vitality for any security organization has lost its precision. Therefore, it is no surprise that NATO faces seriously the risk of losing its legitimacy in keeping its position as the main security provider in Europe
The fact that no appropriate name could be found to define the current international order is ade... more The fact that no appropriate name could be found to define the current international order is adequate to imply that the end of the bipolar system could not lead to a successful conversion in the sense of a new systemic regularity. In so far as the system has gained much more velocity by the intensification of the interactions among the actors, it has begun to release much more incoherent symptoms. For, the international system was not strong enough to assimilate the actors that globalization challenge has released in addition to fact that the emerging international order could not achieve to delete relics of the previous international system. The actors of the system have turned into units which are inclined to cooperate as much as to confront with each other. As a result of this, the system has demonstrated symptoms of a spontaneous evolution. This has demonstrated how the international system is vulnerable to undergo transformations if it is going to keep its identity. Furthermore, it has become an undeniable fact that that the current international system has got into a process of self-depletion in so far as it has advanced with the boost of globalization.
The impact of September 11 has been well beyond than a terrorist attack. By these attacks, the po... more The impact of September 11 has been well beyond than a terrorist attack. By these attacks, the power notion of realism has lost its credibility. A non-state actor by its 'network' type of power has demonstrated how it could challenge a superpower. As there is no specific location that can be a target, the concept of threat has taken on a more ambiguous character. Islam has risen as a non-traditional power, having no distinct boundaries, no central authority and no armed forces. The United States cannot fight radical Islam just like fighting communism. The rise of transcendental values cannot agree with the immanent values of the realism. The domestic policy/foreign policy distinction of classic realism is not valid concerning the Islamic world. Security requirements of the states cannot be fulfilled by traditional instruments like armed forces. Even a superpower has become helpless with the loss of monopoly on technology. International relations cannot be identified with international politics so easily as in the past. Despite all, it is also possible to find some points in favour of realism. The pessimistic character of realism has increased with the rising security concerns in the international order and this has meant lowering standards on behalf of international norms. Critical events in the course of the international relations have always born a crucial meaning in testing the validity of IR theories. In this regard, the end of the Cold War was crucial a test in which realism was the target of nearly all the attacks in the field. Generally the discipline of international relations requires events with immense impact in order to test the validity of IR theories.
Papers by Gültekin Sümer
Foreign political cultures hold a substantial place in foreign policy analyses. In order to under... more Foreign political cultures hold a substantial place in foreign policy analyses. In order to understand the American foreign political culture, one has to examine the roots of American foreign policy. The foreign political culture of the United States has several different aspects. With its unprecedented position, the United States intends to become a benevolent hegemon rather than a traditional one by using the means of soft power. However within the evolution of this foreign political culture, an American cult has been created which caused American foreign policy to drift to the point from which a return to its roots is hardly possible.
Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi, 2008
Foreign political cultures hold a substantial place in foreign policy analyses. In order to under... more Foreign political cultures hold a substantial place in foreign policy analyses. In order to understand the American foreign political culture, one has to examine the roots of American foreign policy. The foreign political culture of the United States has several different aspects. With its unprecedented position, the United States intends to become a benevolent hegemon rather than a traditional one by using the means of soft power. However within the evolution of this foreign political culture, an American cult has been created which caused American foreign policy to drift to the point from which a return to its roots is hardly possible.
The impact of 9/11 has been well beyond than a terrorist attack. By these attacks, power notion o... more The impact of 9/11 has been well beyond than a terrorist attack. By these attacks, power notion of realism has lost its credibility. A non-state actor by its ‘network ’ type of power, has demonstrated how it could challenge a superpower. As there is no specific location that can be a target, the concept of threat has taken on a more ambiguous character. Islam has risen as a non-traditional power, having no distinct boundaries, no central authority and no armed forces. The United States cannot fight radical Islam just like fighting communism. Because the religion itself cannot wither away like communism or any other ideology. The rise of transcendental values cannot agree with the immanent values of the realism. The domestic policy/foreign policy distinction of classic realism is not valid concerning the Islamic world. Security requirements of the states cannot be fulfilled by traditional instruments like armed forces. Even a superpower has become helpless with the loss of monopoly o...
Ege Stratejik Araştırmalar Dergisi
Przegląd Strategiczny, 2021
It has been evident that Russia as the heir of Soviet foreign policy, could neither achieve to in... more It has been evident that Russia as the heir of Soviet foreign policy, could neither achieve to integrate herself into the international order, nor could the international order achieve to find a solution to Russian foreign policy identity quest. As long as Russia cannot find a stable and permanent status for herself in the world politics, her foreign policy will signify a permanent instability on the behalf of the international order. The current hegemonic international order is far from residing technical capabilities in terms of satisfying Russia’s foreign policy expectations, because it is unprecedentedly rigid in terms of allowing or refusing the incorporation of hegemonic power like Russia. While it cannot return to multipolarity, it could not set a community based international order either. Since the current international order was founded upon liberal anti-Soviet values, it entered into a lightness of exposing Russia to make clear-cut choices in her foreign policy. As much as the current international order was founded upon liberal anti-Soviet values, its demands from the
International Relations and Diplomacy
Ege Akademik Bakis (Ege Academic Review), 2010
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Books by Gültekin Sümer
Conference Papers by Gültekin Sümer
Papers by Gültekin Sümer