MA in International Political Economy
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Öğe Combined development in Ottoman Empire since the mid-18th century: an analysis based on the uneven and combined development theory(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) İbanoğlu, Doğu; Boyraz, CemilABSTRACT: Ottoman Empire’s transition to capitalism and modernization process in the 19th century has been a popular and important topic for scholars for many years. While it was covered many times throughout these years, it is seen that there are not that many works that analyze and interpret both internal and external factors and the link between them. This thesis aims to examine and analyze the Ottoman transition to capitalism and modernization process in the 19th from the Uneven and Combined development perspective. By applying this method of analysis, the thesis aims to combine internal and external factors in this process and how this process fits into Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution. Finally, it will be possible to comprehend the developments in this era and how it affected the last years of the Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.Öğe Poverty, social aid and electoral clientelism in Turkey: the case of Zeytinburnu(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Özdemir, Cemre; Boyraz, CemilABSTRACT: In political sociology, voter behavior and the reasons and consequences that affect the decisions and preferences of the voters are of great importance. The most important reason for this is that voter behavior is as important as the political party behavior in determining the political power. The “voting” tool is used as the most effective tool of participatory democracy in Turkey. In this way, it is determined by which party the country will be ruled and to whom the administration will be handed over. It is known that many reasons affect voter behavior and preferences. There are arguments that poverty has an impact on voter elections. Poverty is one of the most important problems of all time. Like all developed, underdeveloped and developing countries, poverty has persisted in all periods in Turkey. Turkey has been affected by the wave of change in the world conjuncture that started in the 1980s. While poverty is getting deeper with the effect of neoliberalization; the radical changes in workers' communities, the rise of conservativeright parties and the Islamic discourse, which has increased, has influenced the new working poor, especially in the cities. When the conservative AKP government, which adopted the neo-liberal ideology, came to power in 2002, poverty in Turkey reached a very serious level and became one of the most important internal problems that the government should find solutions to. The AKP was fighting poverty with regulations at both national and local level. Its most important power in this struggle was provided by its strong local organization, the communities, foundations and associations with which it established close relations. In addition, it increased its power thanks to the social aid made with the emphasis on charity associated by a conservative discourse. The biggest criticisms of AKP's anti-poverty policies are as follows: While these social aids resulted in the reproduction of poverty rather than fighting poverty, they established a patron-client relationship between the poor people receiving aid and the government. In this thesis, it has been examined how the clientelist relationship established between the new poor mass in cities and the AKP government through social assistance affects voter behavior. This study was conducted within the scope of Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, which has a large population, socio-cultural and socio-economic diversity and has been governed by the mayors of the AKP for 19 years. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the research. A survey was conducted with 80 volunteer participants in May 2021 in the district. In December 2021, as a continuation of the study, face-to-face interviews were held with 3 male and 3 female volunteer participants who also participated in the survey study. In this way, the relationship between social assistance and voting behavior was examined.Öğe A discussion of the political-economy of inequality in Chile in the neoliberal era: Mental models(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Pişirici, Mete Abdulvahap; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: Inequality is one of the most prominent topics of discussion in the field of social sciences in today’s world. Despite the fact that it has remained a popular issue for decades now, it has been rather difficult so far for both academics and politicians alike to agree upon a common definition of the term or provide durable solutions. This work, with the help of Karla Hoff’s approach based on behavioral economics, will attempt to investigate the possibility of a relationship between inequality and mental models through a multitude of aspects of inequality in Chile. The main aim of this work is to investigate the explanatory power of the concept “mental models” as a tool through which inequality can be grasped in a clearer sense that is beyond that of solely aggregate macroeconomic indicators(while by no means ignoring them). In this effort, this work chose to investigate how inequalities develop through as many aspects of society as possible in one of the most inequal countries of the “developed”(or developing) world: Chile. While the scope of this work is limited to the neoliberal era(due to the amount of data available for this period), the historical approach led to extending the chronological focus further backwards in order to gain a clearer understanding of the underlying causes of inequality. The main focus of this work has been to analyze the events in Chilean political-economical history through the lens of mental models and behaviours of individuals and different social groups in order to gain a better understanding of inequality.Öğe The allure and tragedy of the degrowth perspective: hegemonic struggles over green imaginaries(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Koşanay, Başak; Hoşgör, EvrenABSTRACT: The thesis discusses the degrowth perspective as a green imaginary variant in the context of the Triple Crisis. It compares and contrasts degrowth with other contesting green imaginaries i.e., green capitalism, sustainable development and the Green New Deal (GND) in addressing the Triple Crisis and their hegemonic potential in the current interregnum. In this regard, this thesis primarily problematizes why the degrowth perspective failed to become the hegemonic vision as a growth critical perspective and was absorbed by its alternatives, despite its theoretical influence over the course of several organic and conjunctural crisis moments of the Fordist and post-Fordist accumulation regimes. The thesis attributes generations to degrowth perspective, in order to reveal the internal and external shortcomings it has carried along since its emergence. The thesis will employ Regulation Approach (RA) and Gramscian analysis as the main theoretical framework, along with several methodological instruments from Cultural Political Economy (CPE), to understand the dynamics behind the alternative techno-economic paradigm(s), mode of regulation and mode of societalization in a prospective “green” socioeconomic paradigm. Consequently, it is argued that the risks that the previous growth critical perspectives have experienced are still relevant for contemporary debates over degrowth, as degrowth underestimates the political struggle to become hegemonic and arises as a transformation projection without a valid transition strategy.Öğe China's public diplomacy strategy behind the belt and road initiative: how did China's image in Turkey's public opinion change after belt and road initiative?(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Karagöz, Tolga; Erdoğan, EmreABSTRACT: This thesis study investigates the question of how Turkish public opinion's attitude towards China and perception of China was affected by public diplomacy strategy developed by China in the context of The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Having struggled with starvation 50 years ago, China is today in the position of world economy's driving engine. The largest coordinated infrastructure initiative in civilization history, The BRI will connect Europe, Asia and Africa by sea and land, and eliminate distances with China, that is predicted to be the world's largest economy in the next 10 years. In the international arena, there are those who consider the increase of China and The BRI as an opportunity, as well as those who regard it as a threat. Chinese government has created important significant transformations in their public diplomacy activities in order to gain support in international relations by shifting its foreign policy to a more pro-active approach. Although The BRI is an economy-centred project, it is also of significant importance to understand the public diplomacy activities functioning in the background of The Belt and Road Initiative against the perception of China as a threat. Therefore, the research discusses how effective activities of China's public diplomacy are in the context of The BRI. Based on this, the study is an effort to explain how effective China's public diplomacy activities are through empirical researches conducted in the context of Turkey.Öğe The taming of the bear? Exploring the effectiveness of the sanctions against Russia(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Başar, Ahmet Hamdi; Cemgil, CanABSTRACT: The ongoing sanctions against the Russian Federation by Western states led by the United States with a view to hamper the Putin administration’s capability to rule through suppressing oil and commodity prices and limiting Russia’s trade activities have been a subject of debate in the geopolitics and sanctions literature. A key dimension of these debates has to do with the effectiveness of sanctions. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia through a three-layered analysis that thinks together the macroeconomic, the geopolitical and the social by utilizing Robert Cox’s critical theory or the Neo-Gramscian approach. The argument is that the sanctions did not produce the intended effect and failed to weaken Russia’s geopolitical posture, macroeconomic stability and domestic sociopolitical order. This study develops this argument by showing how Russia’s abrupt transition to capitalism and the exploitation of Russian civil society through financialization and privatization reinforced the ability of Putin’s historical bloc to remain in power with the help of patriotic anti-Western rhetoric and statist approach after the sanctions. Coercive policies to prevent business elites from getting involved in political decision-making and state control particularly in energy industry further contributed to Russia’s recovery. This would have been possible with the decline of the US-led World Order that enabled the Russian Government to diversify policies and establish a pivot to Asia, particularly to China, which ultimately enhanced military and economic relations.Öğe Russian-Israeli relations in the context of the Syrian crisis (2010-2019)(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Maraqa, Yara; Özcan, GencerABSTRACT: This study aims to identify the nature of the Russian-Israeli relations within the major developments that took place within the Syrian theatre particularly at the time when the Syrian uprising started to take military, regional and international dimensions. The development of Russian-Israeli relations in Syria contained many areas of cooperation and had witnessed dissatisfaction on both sides as well. Areas of cooperation were due to a wide range of common interests and foreign policy issues in the region. The study relies on the answer of the problem submitted on the descriptive analytical method in order to identify the overlapping and conflicting areas of motivations and strategies. The study consists of an introduction and six chapters followed by conclusion and outlook. The significance of the study stems from its elucidation of the Russian-Israeli relations within the events of the most recent and significant conflicts, the Syrian conflict. The study has sought to uncover the political motives and employed strategies of both Russia and Israel towards Syria since the onset of the conflict in March 2011 until 2019, then comparing their common motives and strategies that determines the shape of their ongoing relations. The study has employed eclectic methodology, thus making use of a number of research methods such as those of the historical, comparative and that of the national interest and decision-making. In highlighting the Russian-Israeli course of relations in Syria it was required to review the influential regional and international determinants in the Syrian crisis and their effects on the foreign policy of Israel and Russia. The study concluded that Israeli-Russian military, political and diplomatic coordination over Syria has been managed successfully to certain degree, yet distrust has limited the way for a full-fledged military and political alliance. Similarly, diplomatic standoffs and military friction could not be avoided, yet their rapprochement and cooperation continued to shape the nature of their relations.Öğe Tourism industry in the political economy of Turkish-Russian relations(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Çuhadaroğlu Çalışkan, Merve; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: This thesis aims to investigate what are the reasons and the consequences of the tourism rela-tions between Russia and Turkey in the post-Cold War era. It has been observed that within the development of economic relations after 1990, the investments of politicians and the busi-ness world even continued with a strong normalization process after the crises experienced be-tween the two countries. This thesis examined the commercial relations and tourism coopera-tion between the two countries and considered their positive impact on political problems and points out that the cooperation for developing the relations between these two countries should be increased by examining the commercial relations and tourism collaboration between the two countries.Öğe The politics of foreign direct investments into Turkey: 2002-2019(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Yıldız, Ilgın; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: The thesis attempts to demonstrate the relation between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to Turkey and political (in)stability, since political risk is considered as the most important determinant of FDI in developing countries. In order to achieve this, the last 18 years under AKP (Justice and Development Party) rule was chosen, because the single party government stabilizes one of the most important variables of the political risk perception. In doing so, the thesis will depict the political economy of Turkey between 2002-2019 in three parts and discuss the relationship between political events and FDI inflows. Dividing the given time frame into three, these distinct periods are chosen according to the macroeconomic trends and episodes of the different political conflicts. Then, the thesis will discuss this relationship from the perspective of liberal approaches. The main argument of the thesis is: there is a strong negative relation between FDI inflows to Turkey and the increasing political instability, as the political events of the last two decades such as external and internal conflicts, terrorist attacks and corruption increase the perceived political risk for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Therefore, the thesis reached the following conclusion: The key factor that affects FDI inflows to Turkey negatively is political instability; however, the incentives and political privileges that are given to the MNCs have a positive effect on FDI inflows in the short run.Öğe Local councils in Syria during the civil war(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Alnajjar, Huzaifa; Kuyumcuoğlu, OzanABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to analyse the formation process of the local councils established by the opposition groups during the Syrian civil war and how domestic dynamics as well as regional and international actors limited the operational capacity of these local councils. This study will primarily discuss basic characteristics of the local councils and their relations with civil society and non-governmental organizations. Then it will highlight the regional and international factors which have been decisive in shaping the fragmented structure of Syrian opposition. This study aims to demonstrate that the local councils in Syria have been negatively influenced by lack of coordination and harmony among the opposition groups and foreign interference. Because of these limitations, the local councils cannot overcome the security concerns and provide peace and stability.Öğe The role of politics of energy in Iran's middle east policy(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Özer, Hasret; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: This thesis examines the role of politics of energy in Middle Eastern foreign policy of Iran, which holds the world's fourth largest oil and second largest natural gas reserves. The main focus will be on the use of oil, natural gas, nuclear energy resources in the foreign policy-making process especially after the Islamic Revolution. This thesis first gives information on the external factors affecting Iran's Middle East foreign policy especially the impact of the so called new Cold War between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the “Axis of Resistance” in the Middle East and the effects of the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Then it focuses on internal factors affecting Iran's Middle East foreign policy and especially the impact of sanctions on Iran's economy and analyzes developments in Iran's energy sector and policy during the period of nuclear-related sanctions which were imposed mainly by US, UN and the EU. The last chapter discusses the developments in Iran's energy sector and foreign policy after the sanctions lifted by the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the West, and the effects of the sanctions fully reimposed after the US withdrawal of the deal for the region, and examines whether Iran is using energy as a tool, as a weapon, as a leverage or all of them in the Middle East. It concludes that Iran uses oil as a weapon, natural gas as a tool and nuclear power as a political leverage in its Middle East policy.Öğe The age of right populism: the case of Brazil(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Kuzlukluoğlu, Çağlar; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: Populism is increasingly a popular concept and issue in politics and academic studies. After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, there have been significant economic and political changes in the World. As a result, governments, political systems, and parties struggle to meet the new social, political, and economic challenges. Populist discourses, leaders, movements and parties have been rising in this framework. Right-Wing populist movements and leaders have remarkable arguments which imply market friendly economy policies in parallel to global economic order on the one hand, but also defend nativism and protectionism in economic policies on the other hand, and show a tendency towards authoritarianism and anti-establishment view in actual world politics. This study is focusing on Brazil and Jair Bolsonaro who is current elected President of this country with the aim of explaining the right-wing populism and it’s economic background in relation with neoliberalism. In order to understand the visible example of right-wing populism, this thesis aims to evaluate the general discussions on populism. In this respect, events such as rising inequality, social unrest and ongoing economic fluctuations will be investigated in historical context and from the perspective of the latest presidential elections in Brazil. Jair Bolsonaro’s electoral success with the populist discourse and following economic turmoil period between 2013 and 2018 will be examined. As follows, Bolsonaro’s extreme right opinions with populist agenda, and enabling conditions such as the rise of populism in the World, the overall impact of social and economic issues on voting behavior and the political economy of populism will be evaluated in this thesis. It is concluded that populism has changed the mainstream political arena and right-wing populism has gained success by instrumentalizing political economic concerns of voters.Öğe Currency depreciation and foreign policy discourse: The Turkish case(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2019) Yılmaz, Uğur; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: 2018 was an extraordinary year for Turkish-American relations. Turkey's one of the most serious diplomatic crises with the U.S. in decades precipitated an unprecedented Turkish lira currency crisis. Against this background, this study examines the influence of the U.S. policies on Turkey and the following dollar/lira exchange rate fluctuations on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's U.S.-related discourse. In order to better understand the relationship, the study provides a brief summary of the historic and current political frictions between the two NATO allies. This overview is followed by a political discourse analysis of Erdogan's speeches from September 1, 2017 until December 31, 2018. After that, the market moving news flows (e.g. the imprisonment of American Pastor Andrew Brunson) and reports published by international banks are examined in order to find out the U.S.-related determinants of the currency movements and discourse changes. Finally, the study points out the interactions between the U.S. actions, lira valuation and Erdoğan's U.S. related discourse. It is observed that negative U.S. steps caused the lira to depreciate, positive U.S. steps led to a lira appreciation. In conclusion, it can be said that there has been an observable influence of the U.S. policies on Turkey and the following dollar/lira exchange rate fluctuations on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's U.S.-related discourse.Öğe Political economy of pre-civil war Syria(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2019) Ünver, Sevra; Rüma, Şadan İnanABSTRACT: Syria is one of the countries influenced by the Arab Spring. Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011 with protests in the aftermath of Arab Spring, has had its effects on Syrian citizens and the world in several aspects. When the civil war started in Syria, people gathered together in city squares to do protests with a lot of different demands and discourses. The common demand was for more reforms, more freedom and change of the authoritarian regime. In the anti-government demonstrations, the oppressed people demanded termination of economic downturn continuing for years and the implementation of reforms that had not been made in spite of the promises of those in power. In this thesis, the political economy of the country was examined under the headings of economic, political and social circumstances before demonstrations. The reasons that lead the people to rebel and demand radical changes in Syria and the impact of the economic liberalization policies in economy and society were investigated. The factors deemed necessary to analyze are general political economic indicators such as GDP, inflation, unemployment figures and corruption and the environmental factors that have economic impacts such as drought, climate change. As a result of the investigation it was concluded that prior to the civil war, the Syrian people had problems in many areas including economic welfare and the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. The steps that the government took for economic liberalization without political liberalisation did not bring the desired reaction from the society living under the pressure of the authoritarian state. The positive effects of the reforms and the increase in welfare were not felt equally by all parts of the society. Therefore, this thesis concludes that neo-liberal economic reforms without political liberalization under an authoritarian rule in Syria has resulted in serious popular discontent.Öğe An analysis of the Turkish agricultural sector: long-term sustainability question in the post-2000 era(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Köymen, Gülcan Melis; Boyraz, CemilABSTRACT: The Agricultural production that had been under strict control in the state in Turkey until 1980, has passed through a gradual structural transformation which was completed with the twin reform package that was enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in the early 2000s. The reform package propelled by the IMF and WB contained a series of policies in the name of streamlining the economy in accordance with the free-market conditions and pointed out the ‘state’ as the scapegoat of malfunctioning agriculture. Thus, the role of the state and its parastatal institutions in agricultural production were abolished vigorously during the following decade while the subsidies that had been used to sustain the welfare of rural masses were minimized at the expense of creating impoverishment and unemployment. Obviously, the alteration towards exportoriented liberal policies accompanied by the haphazardly taken governmental decisions to maintain legitimacy in 1990s, drifted Turkey into successive economic crises and ultimately compelled the country to sign the IMF/WB loan agreements, in exchange for losing its sovereignty in strategy-making decisions within major sectors including agriculture. However, in order to provide a complete understanding on the nature of agrarian transformation in Turkey the international capitalization process of agriculture, on behalf of US-dominated transnational companies (TNCs), needs to be evaluated. Moreover, the requirements of the European Union (EU) alignment and the pledges that were given to the WTO (World Trade Organization) in the Doha Round talks needs to be examined. This thesis aims to present an analysis on the post-2000 agricultural transformation and capitalization in Turkey that was imposed via neoliberal reforms and international agreements. It contends that the present agricultural support policies of Turkey are far from being either protectionist or viable in real terms and incapable of providing long-term sustainability in terms of national food-security, rural development and economic improvement concerning the multilateral dependencies of the country.Öğe Public acceptability of carbon tax(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2020) Dikmener, Fehime; Uyduranoğlu, AyşeABSTRACT: The main objective of this thesis is to identify factors affecting the public acceptability of carbon tax, which is one of the financial instruments used for emission reduction. In this study, the factors that cause climate change, international efforts, carbon pricing mechanisms and carbon tax best practices on country basis are discussed. The factors such as impact of carbon tax on competitiveness, distributional concerns, public distrust and perception of the carbon tax that negatively affect the acceptability of carbon tax by the public are examined. The effect of carbon tax on competition is insignificant because tax effect on final price is minor. Similarly, the impact of carbon tax on income distribution is found not influential on public acceptability since tax revenues can be used to reduce the rates of existing taxes and tax exemptions can be defined for low-income households. However, public distrust and tax perception are the more important determinants of public acceptability. Public skepticism on government intention, the perceived corruption and inefficiency leading to decrease in political legitimacy are main drivers for public distrust. Also, the perception of carbon tax is concluded to be ‘inefficient in terms of changing behavior’, ‘a type of penalty’, ‘a decrease in consumption and purchasing power’, ‘a restriction on the freedom of choice’. The conclusion section provides recommendations to increase public acceptability such as earmarking tax revenues, using revenues for limiting its negative impact on income distribution and applying tax at municipal level.Öğe Factors determining public behaviours towards refugees: Şanlıurfa case(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2019) Bucak, Hakan; Erdoğan, EmreIn 2011 due to the civil war in Syria, Syrian citizens, emigrated to multitudes of nations, this paper specifıcally focuses on the migrants within Turkey. There has been a massive movement that has displaced millions of people and it is thought that the attitude and behaviors of the local people are shaped within the framework of the contacts established between local people and refugees. it can be argued that the threat perceptions of refugees within the far reaches of the Turkish nation will decrease depending on the contact level between the two disparate groups. The factors that determine the behavior of people towards refugees in this study are covered within the scope of Integrated Threat Theory. Socio-demographic characteristics and differentiating perceptions of society according to the opinions of the refugees are evaluated. A total of 399 participants from fourteen neighborhoods in Haliliye and Eyyübiye, one of the districts of Şanlıurfa, where Syrian refugee density is highest were surveyed. According to the fındings obtained from this research, the people of the region generally consider Syrian refugees as a threat towards their social lifestyle, wealth and security. However, the public's negative perception towards refugees is decreasing due to increased contact between the two groups.Öğe From refugees to employees a comparison of the labour market entegration of Syrian refugees in Turkey and Germany(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2019) Kunzendorf, Laura; Cemgil, CanGermany and Turkey, the two European states hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees, are faced with the challenge to integrate these refugees into their labour markets on the long-term. However, the shortcomings and strengths in this process are disparate in the two countries, both struggle with aspects of labour market integration that are achieved in the respective other country. The literature is aware of several factors influencing the labour market integration outcome of migrants. However, there is no clarity on the relevance and influence potential of single factors depending on the specific conditions in the host country. One reason is that detailed case studies considering diverse influencing factors within a holistic approach and also giving weight to the experiences of the concerned persons themselves - the refugees - are missing. With the help of an ethnographic approach, the present thesis shows that bureaucracy and institutional support, skills and experiences, as well as social networks, are the main drivers on the way into employment for refugees in Germany and Turkey. Yet, due to different national contexts, the degree and the way in which these factors shape the labour market entry diverges. While on the rather inflexible German labour market language skills are decisive and official certificates required to enter a job, social networks and the demonstration of practical skills are pivotal for employment on the Turkish labour market. Moreover, in Germany, high levels of bureaucracy and institutional support lead to a slow but eventually stable labour market integration of refugees. In Turkey, on the other hand, low levels of bureaucracy and institutional support push refugees into employment quickly but result in informal, unstable working situations. The results demonstrate that there is vast need and scope for improvement of labour market integration in both destinations by learning from already successful approaches adopted in the respective other country.Öğe Food sovereignty movement in Turkey: The case of Kadikoy cooperative(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2018) Gürel, Hüseyin; Cemgil, Can[Abstract Not Available]Öğe Everyday experiences of indebtedness: The case of Turkey(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2018) Hatunoğlu, Aslıhan; Boyraz, Cemil[Abstract Not Available]
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