ROLE THEORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Since December 2010, a series of uprisings, revolutions, coups and civil wars have shaken up the Middle East and North Africa region. In this chaotic political environment, several countries have been trying to influence this regional transformation. The implications of this transformation are of great importance for the region, its people and global politics.
Using a rich combination of primary and secondary sources, elite interviews and content analysis, Yasemin Akbaba and zgr zdamar apply role theory to analyze ideational (e.g. identity, religion) and material (e.g. security, economy) sources of national role conceptions in Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The authors take a closer look at the transformation of these four powers foreign policies since the beginning of Arab uprisings, with a specific focus on religion. Each case study is written to a common template allowing for clear comparative analyses.
Written in a clear and accessible style, Role Theory in the Middle East and North Africa offers a thought-provoking and pioneering insight into the usefulness of role theory in foreign policy making in the developing world. The perfect combination of theoretically oriented and empirically rich analysis makes this volume an ideal resource for scholars and researchers of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Middle East Politics and International Security.
Yasemin Akbaba is an Associate Professor at Gettysburg College. Her research focuses on the role of religion in international relations and foreign policy analysis. She has authored/co-authored several journal articles that have appeared in Political Studies, JPR, Comparative European Politics, FPA, Politics and Religion, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Ethnopolitics, Civil Wars, International Interactions, Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, Politics, Religion & Ideology and others. She had also received Gettysburg Colleges Thompson Award for distinguished teaching.
zgr zdamar is an Associate Professor at Bilkent University, Ankara. He has taught at different institutions, such as the University of Missouri-Columbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, the Turkish Military Academy, and the National Security College. zdamars research focuses on foreign policy analysis, IR theories and security studies. His articles were published in journals such as Political Research Quarterly, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Studies Review, Terrorism and Political Violence, Social Science Quarterly and Middle East Policy. He currently serves as editor of All Azimuth: Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace and on the editorial board of Foreign Policy Analysis journal.
ROLE THEORY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Edited by Cameron G. Thies, Arizona State University, and Juliet Kaarbo, University of Edinburgh
The Role Theory and International Relations Series aspires to attract and publish the latest and best research integrating knowledge in the field of International Relations with role theory. This aspiration cuts across a wide swath of subfields, including foreign policy analysis, peace and security studies, international political economy, diplomatic studies, and international organization. While each of these subfields of study is presently organized as an island of theory, this series intends to integrate their signature phenomena within a system of knowledge, a theory complex or an alliance among different subfields. This series showcases the ability of role theory to generate useful theoretical insights on its own or in combination with existing theories across these traditional subfields. Role theorys conceptual repertoire, plus its ability to span multiple levels of analyses and the major meta-theoretical divides in the discipline position it to be an important integrative force in the study of International Relations.
4. Environmental Politics and Foreign Policy Decision Making in Latin America
Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol
Amy Below
5. Chinas International Roles
Edited by Sebastian Harnisch, Sebastian Bersick, Jrn-Carsten Gottwald
6. Domestic Role Contestation, Foreign Policy, and International Relations
Edited by Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo
7. Role Theory and Role Conflict in U.S.-Iran Relations:
Enemies of Our Own Making
Akan Malici and Stephen G. Walker
8. South Korean Identity and Global Foreign Policy
Dream of Autonomy
Patrick Flamm
9. Role Theory in the Middle East and North Africa
Politics, Economics and Identity
Yasemin Akbaba and zgr zdamar
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Yasemin Akbaba and zgr zdamar to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Akbaba, Yasemin, author. | Ozdamar, Ozgur, author.
Title: Role theory in the Middle East and North Africa : politics, economics and identity / Yasemin Akbaba & Ozgur Ozdamar.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Series: Role theory and international relations ; 9 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018061076 (print) | LCCN 2019009188 (ebook) | ISBN 9781315160160 (Master) | ISBN 9781351661683 (Adobe) | ISBN 9781351661676 (ePub3) | ISBN 9781351661669 (Mobi) | ISBN 9781138064829 (hbk) | ISBN 9781138064836 (pbk)
Subjects: LCSH: Middle East--Foreign relations--21st century. | Islam and international relations--Middle East. | Arab Spring, 2010---Influence. | Egypt--Foreign relations--21st century. | Iran--Foreign relations--21st century. | Saudi Arabia--Foreign relations--21st century. | Turkey--Foreign relations--21st century.
Classification: LCC JZ1670.A9 (ebook) | LCC JZ1670.A9 A53 2019 (print) | DDC 327.56--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018061076
ISBN: 978-1-138-06482-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-06483-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16016-0 (ebk)
To the memory of my father, Medet Akbaba
Yasemin Akbaba
To Stefanie and Mavi
zgr zdamar
We are grateful to many colleagues who have offered their gracious help while we wrote this book. We would like to thank Juliet Kaarbo and Cameron Thies for organizing many platforms to discuss role theory and their encouragement to write this book. We are indebted to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. We would like to thank Natalja Mortensen, who is the senior editor at the press, for her guidance at all stages of writing the manuscript. We are also thankful to Cala Kl, Evgeniia Shahin, Gabriel Kelly, Mariam Aghayan, Alison Lashendock and Patrick McKenna Jr. for their research assistance. No acknowledgement would be complete without extending the biggest thanks to our family members for their loving support. Data collection and analysis in Chapter 6 (about Turkey) was made possible by a TBTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) grant (112K163). Please note that authors names are listed in alphabetical order and denote equal contribution.