Analysis of the evolution in Turkish identity and foreign Policy.

This study examines the contours of Turkish-American foreign relations in the post-Cold War era from 1990 to 2005. While providing an interpretive analysis, the study highlights elements of continuity and change and of convergence and divergence in the relationship between Ankara and Washington. Turkey’s encounter with its Kurdish problem at home intertwined with the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish authority in northern Iraq after the Gulf War that left a political vacuum in the region. The main argument of this dissertation is that the Kurdish question has been the central element in shaping and redefining the nature and scope of Turkish-American relations since 1991. This study finds that systemic factors primarily prevail in the early years of the post-Cold War Turkish-American relations, as had been the case during the Cold War era. However, the Turkish parliament’s rejection of the deployment of the U.S. troops in Turkey for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 could not be explained by the primacy of distribution of capabilities in the system. Instead, the role of identity, ideology, norms, and the socialization of agency through interaction and language must be considered. The Justice and Development Party’s ascension to power in 2002 magnified a wider transformation in domestic and foreign politics and reflected changes in Turkey’s own self-perception and the definition of its core interests towards the United States.

While serving as the Presidential Envoy to Iraq, historians, journalists, and students alike became acquainted with Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III for the first time. Those same observers judged Ambassador Bremer’s work and effectiveness, without knowing anything about his previous career and how his prior experiences shaped his intellectual growth as a Foreign Service Officer. Therefore, this thesis effectively serves as an opportunity for observers of the Iraq War and historians to put the fourteen months Ambassador Bremer served in Iraq into a greater context. The Thesis tracks his early Foreign Service postings, through his enormous impact on the Cold War as Ambassador to the Netherlands, up through the bi-partisan report that he chaired, which is sometimes referred to as the “Bremer Report.” His career before Iraq allowed him to gain experience in diplomacy, studying terrorism, and preparing himself intellectually to understand and attempt to solve problems in different areas of the world and different sectors within government and out. Additionally, the Thesis discusses two issues during Ambassador Bremer’s time in Iraq. One of the issues, based on interviews with each party, re-explains the nature of the relationship between Ambassador Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. This discussion also presents evidence as to why difficulties at the time did exist, although the overall nature of them have been greatly exaggerated. Lastly, the Thesis discusses the decision to disband the Iraqi Army, and attempts to place that decision in the context of Ambassador Bremer’s prior career and decision making. / text

During the Administrations of Presidents Geisel (March 1974-March 1979) and Figueiredo (March 1979-March 1985) South America became a top priority area for Brazilian foreign policy. Brazil's diplomatic, economic and especially commercial relations with her neighbours acquired an intensity and depth never seen before. However, despite growing interest in the study of Brazil's external relations, no systematic effort has been undertaken to explain this central aspect of her foreign policy and its effects on inter-state relations in South America. This thesis purports to account for the changes explaining Brazil's increasing interest in the region, the economic and political objectives she pursued in South America during the last decade and the main features of her regional policy - mainly its cooperative character and its emphasis on maximising her economic gains. The difficulties Brazil encountered in attaining her aims and the achievements with which her efforts were rewarded also constitute an aim of this work. In the course of the last decade Brazil increased her economic and commercial influence in the buffer states of the River Plate basin, transformed her conflictive relation with Argentina into one of cooperation and understanding and created an atmosphere favourable to the development of greater cooperation with her Amazonian neighbours. In doing so Brazil managed simultaneously to maximise her economic gains, further her regional influence and reduce her neighbours' apprehension towards her own internal expansion and the rapid development of her national power. Brazil's foreign policy in South America not only contributed to reduce her geographic, economic and political isolation from her neighbours but by favouring bilateral cooperation with them consolidated for herself a peaceful strategic environment in South America. The efforts of the last decade have paved the way for future cooperation with her South American counterparts in those areas in which she wishes to do so, while keeping her freedom of action to expand her economic and political relations to other areas of the world. Furthermore, they have allowed her to bring her degree of regional influence more in line with her relative advantages vis-á-vis her South American neighbours without making them feel threatened by such developments.

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