This study seeks to examine the main theories and theorists of geopolitical imagining and argue for an intrinsic relation between traditional geopolitics and the development of international relations both in theory and practice. By doing so the study aims to pursue an assessment of the insights of critical geopolitics, as reflected in the works of John Agnew, Gerar&oacute / id &Oacute / Tuathail (Gerard Toal), Simon Dalby, Klaus Dodds and others, for the theory of IR, more specifically its dominant paradigm realism. The aim of this study, in other words, is to identify and describe the geopolitical assumptions that have led IR theory to turn out to be &bdquo / realist

Existing literature indicates that transformational leadership, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior are very important for effective organizational functioning. Previous research on citizenship behaviors made limited contribution to the literature, since it mainly did not consider the relationships between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors together with the influences of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study tried to test a new model of the relationships among transformational leadership, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the influences of transformational leadership on organizational citizenship behaviors. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on the relationship transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors. A survey was conducted in a public bank with 148 participants. The employees rated the items that measured transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior. After the outlier analyses, 137 cases were left for further study. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the data to test the relations of the variables. In line with the expectations, transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational commitment predicted organizational citizenship behaviors. Moreover, affective commitment and normative commitment partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Contrary to the expectations, job satisfaction did not mediate the relation between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior.

This thesis is an attempt to inquire the origins of the Cyprus conflict by analyzing the historical developments that laid the ground for the inter-communal dispute in the late 1950s, while focusing on the structural dimension of the rise of ethnonationalisms in the island. The special emphasis is given to the British period 1878-1960 in the historical analysis since the ethno-religious identity consciousnesses of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in the island started to turn into ethnonational ones and later into antagonistic nationalisms during this era. The study&rsquo / s underlying premise is that although different identity perceptions existed much earlier among the two communities of the island, the inconsistent policies of the British administration that shifted in accordance with its interests in the Mediterranean region enabled the emergence of a conducive environment for the politicization and manipulation of these diverse identity perceptions. The Greek and Turkish nationalisms gained strength in this era and gradually transformed into antagonistic nationalisms motivated by different political goals about the future of the island. These developments would be the main reason of the inter-communal violence in Cyprus that arose in late 1950s and also in the following years till the permanent territorial partition in 1974.

The major aims of the present study have been to investigate the predictive role of communication patterns and sexual satisfaction on relationship satisfaction / and to investigate the moderating role of sexual satisfaction on this relationship for married individuals both with and without children and for cohabiting individuals. In order to evaluate these, the Communication Pattern Questionnaire (CPQ), the Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Inventory (GRISS), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), and Demographic Information Form were administered to 74 married individuals with children, 68 married individuals without children, and 66 cohabiting individuals. To examine relationship statuses differences on communication patterns, sexual and relationship satisfaction, analysis of variance was performed. The results showed that relationship statuses do not differ on these variables. After controlling for the effects of age and duration of relationship, the main and interaction effects of communication patterns and sexual satisfaction on relationship satisfaction were assessed with a hierarchical regression analysis. The results revealed that a lower level of destructive communication, a higher level of constructive communication, and sexual satisfaction were separately associated with greater relationship satisfaction for all relationship status. However, emotional-logical communication was positively associated with relationship satisfaction only among married individuals with children and that aggressive communication was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction among married individuals without children and cohabiting individuals. Moreover, the interaction effect was found that sexual satisfaction moderated the effect of destructive communication on relationship satisfaction only among married individuals without children. Results are discussed with reference to related literature together with implications and the limitations of the study.

The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between demographic variables, parental acceptance-rejection (PAR), social support (SS), locus of control (LC), and psychological problems with adolescents. The study consisted of 375 high school students (215 females and 160 males) from three different high schools in Ankara whose age range between 14-18. Furthermore, 134 of students&rsquo / both parents, 18 of students&rsquo / only mothers, and 5 of students&rsquo / only fathers participated into the study. A questionnaire packet (Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire/Control: Child Version, Personality Assessment Questionnaire: Child Version, Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule, Social Support Appraisals Scale for Children, Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children) was administered to the students and Conners&rsquo / Parent Rating Scale was filled by both mothers and fathers. The results revealed that after controlling the effect of demographic variables, SS from family was positively associated with positive affect and negatively with externalizing problems and psychological maladjustment (PM). After controlling the effects of demographic variables and SS, internal LC was positively associated with positive affect and impulsivity/hyperactivity and external LC with PM. Moreover, controlling the effects of demographic variables, SS and LC, maternal hostility/aggression was positively associated with PM / maternal undifferentiated rejection with negative affect, conduct problem and oppositional defiant disorder / paternal warmth/affection with positive affect and learning problem / paternal indifference/neglect with impulsivity/hyperactivity and paternal undifferentiated rejection with oppositional defiant disorder. The findings of the study were discussed in the light of the literature. Additionally, limitations and implications of the study and suggestions for future researches were stated.

The thesis aims to discuss the process of nation-building and discourse of Russian nationalism of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000 - 2008. It focuses on the rise of the nationalism in Russia since 2000 and analyzes discourse of nationalism at the state level, in culture and religious sphere, as well as its representation in various ultra right-wing political movements. The thesis argues that despite the ethnic elements in Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s discourse of Russian nationalism, his version of nationalism is not ethnic, but rather multiethnic and inclusive that seeks to promote loyalty to the Russian state among the Russian citizens without eliminating their ethnic identities. In fact, Putin&rsquo / s version of nationalism is multidimensional. Unlike ethnicity, religion and other cultural elements, the loyalty to the state constitute the core of this nationalism. The thesis comprises of four main chapters. After the introduction chapter, the second chapter examines the main projects of the Russian nation-building and identity construction that emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and explains which of them were chosen by the leadership of the republic. The third chapter focuses on the discussion of the nation-building under Boris Yeltsin. The fourth chapter is the analysis of Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s nation-building policy and his discourse of nationalism. The fifth chapter analyses the foreign policy of Vladimir Putin, paying attention to policy towards compatriots in the near abroad, countries of the CIS and West. The concluding chapter discusses the main findings of the thesis.

Wheat is an extremely important agricultural commodity, due to its crucial role in everyday nutrition, food security, and in terms of incomes of a large body of farmers worldwide. This study examines the dynamics of wheat prices in Turkey in a framework that allows for regime switching. Due to their simplicity, threshold autoregressive (TAR) models are used to capture the effects of factors such as transaction costs and other institutional arrangements that generate discontinuous adjustment to equilibrium price level. The results are compared with standard linear model estimations. Results indicate that there is strong evidence for asymmetric adjustment of wheat prices in Turkey to the equilibrium price, hence models allowing for regime switching are more preferable over the linear ones. However, the diagnostics of the TAR model reveal that specification of a TAR model allowing for more than two regimes, or a smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) model that allows for smooth transition through a continuum of regimes might be more appropriate.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate preservice teachers&rsquo / spatial visualization ability, geometry self-efficacy, and spatial anxiety regarding undergraduate program and gender. The other purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship among preservice teachers&rsquo / spatial visualization ability, geometry self-efficacy, and spatial anxiety. The data were collected from 1007 third and fourth grade preservice teachers who were enrolled in Elementary Mathematics Education (EME), Elementary Science Education (ESE), and Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs of four universities in Ankara. The measuring instruments were Spatial Visualization Test (SVT), Geometry Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale, and Spatial Anxiety (ANX) Scale. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between undergraduate programs regarding spatial visualization ability levels. The EME students had significantly higher SVT scores than the ESE and the ECE students. Moreover, it was concluded that males had significantly higher spatial visualization scores than females. In addition, ECE students&rsquo / geometry self-efficacy was significantly lower than that of both EME and ESE students. The geometry self-efficacy scores of female preservice teachers were found significantly lower than of male preservice teachers. Furthermore, the significant difference in spatial anxiety levels was found only between EME and ESE students where EME students&rsquo / spatial anxiety levels were higher than ESE students. Moreover, ECE students had the lowest spatial anxiety among other programs. The spatial anxiety levels of males were less than females in all three undergraduate programs. Finally, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis indicated a positive correlation between GSE and SVT scores. Moreover, the negative correlation was found between ANX and SVT scores, and between ANX and GSE scores.

To be able to design product sounds that elicit a predetermined expression a study was performed to find how sound properties influence the experience of their expression. Two explorative studies using figurative against abstract visual stimuli were performed to create insight in how people experience sounds and to create a list of usable semantic associations. This list was ordered in 25 expression categories each under one descriptive semantic association. A third study using mind mapping was conducted to examine what sound properties were considered as influences on a few of these categories and to optimize the categorization. The sound properties that were considered as most influential were sharpness and noisiness. The final descriptive semantic associations were placed on a scale with the axes unpleasant-pleasant and calm-active. From these the following were considered to be most usable: activated, angry, boring, calm, chaotic, cheerful, eerie, energetic, pleasant, relaxed, trustworthy and unpleasant. In a fourth study the sounds of six domestic appliances were chosen and adjusted for sharpness, noisiness and their combination. They were evaluated for their valued expression on the 12 semantic associations by 30 participants. The results showed that increased sharpness elicited a more unpleasant and activated expression and decreased sharpness elicited a more pleasant and calm expression. This indicates that a general influence of sound properties can be established to design sounds for expression.

The aim of the current thesis was to investigate the relationship between Alevis and Sunnis through the lenses of Social Identity Theory, Social Dominance Theory, and Contact Hypothesis to understand whether they see the current situation stable and legitimate, and perceive discrimination. It was expected that Alevis and Sunnis will differ in ingroup identifications, social dominance orientations, quantity, and quality of intergroup contact, perception of legitimacy and stability, and perceived discrimination against their ingroup. Moreover, the relationship between the dimensions of religious group identification, social dominance orientation, social contact and legitimacy, stability, and perceived discrimination is expected to differ between groups. The sample was consisted of 157 Sunni and 172 Alevi participants living in Amasya, Turkey. Participants completed a questionnaire package including the measures of religious identification, social dominance orientation, social contact, legitimacy, stability, and perceived discrimination. Results revealed that there were significant differences between Alevis and Sunnis in public religious identity, alienated religious identity, opposition to equality, contact quality, perceived legitimacy of the group status, and perception of discrimination directed against ingroup and outgroup. Moreover, religious group identification and social dominance orientation significantly predicted the perception of legitimacy and stability in both Alevi and Sunni groups. Examination of the associations among the major variables revealed that the relationship between perceived discrimination and ingroup identification was slightly stronger for Alevi group compared to Sunni group. The power of group based dominance was stronger than opposition to equality in predicting the perception of discrimination, especially for the Sunni group. Finally, intergroup contact, especially the quality of contact, had a positive effect on intergroup relations. Considering that this thesis is the first attempt to empirically examine the fundamental social psychological processes underlying the Alevi issue in Turkey, findings were discussed on basis of sociological and political aspects as well as previous work in Western cultures.