Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-310).

Since the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) victory and government in 2002, Turkey entered a new phase in its history and witnessed major changes in all social, economic, and political aspects. Turkish foreign policy went through huge transformations and the new AKP government was able to revolutionise Turkey’s international position. In particular, relations with Middle Eastern countries have tremendously improved and Turkish interests and role have been growing ever since. This thesis investigates the sources of change in Turkish foreign policy since 2002 towards the Middle East, focusing on the role of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) as a ruling party in particular on the changes it went through in the first ten years from 2002 to early 2012. The significant changes in Turkish foreign policy appeared under the AKP government became one of the most debated issues in this field and created a puzzle that many scholars attempted to explain. Therefore, the thesis engages in recent debates between the different scholars and analysts in the literature and argues that there is a need for a more inclusive approach that can recognize the complex and multilateral nature of the Turkish case. The aim is to assess and evaluate the plausibility of the available competing explanations in the literature in explaining such foreign policy outcomes. Therefore, the thesis borrows and builds on the works of Alexander George & Andrew Bennet (2005), and Derek Beach & Rasmus Pedersen (2013) by adopting the Process Tracing Methodology, which helps to facilitate a better critical analysis and systematic evaluation of the selected explanations. The results of this thesis demonstrate that single factor based explanations actually drive researchers away from achieving a comprehensive explanation and only help provide a partial picture. Therefore, the best way to go forward is by adopting a much more inclusive and multiple factors based approach recognising the important opportunity that foreign policy theories offer in looking at the Turkish case from different perspectives. The results of this thesis suggest that the best way for understanding Turkish foreign policy change is by recognizing the multiple roles of domestic and international economic, political,and ideational sources, as well as the role of policy makers, particularly that of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu. The contribution of this thesis lies within its analysis bringing the wide range of explanations in the literature together, exploring and summarizing the vast number of data in a more simplified manner, and examining the value and plausibility of the competing explanation to try and arrive at the most comprehensive explanation, all under one piece of work. Therefore, this thesis establishes a useful foundation for researchers to adopt and take forward in future studies.

Le Québec est l’un des États fédérés les plus actifs en relations internationales. Toutefois, l’étude de ses activités extérieures présente tout de même une certaine atonie. Disciplinairement écartées, analytiquement restreintes «[l]es relations internationales du Québec ont été étudiées comme un sous-produit des relations internationales ». On peut alors imaginer, sur la base de cette affirmation du professeur Luc Bernier, l’attention portée, par la communauté scientifique, sur la nature de ces activités. Ce «sujet n’a été qu’exploré, particulièrement dans sa dimension théorique », écrivait la ministre Louise Beaudoin. En effet, il est rarement question, dans la littérature, d’exploration de la substance de cette activité québécoise. Rares sont les chercheurs qui ont approfondi rigoureusement ce sujet. Quelle interprétation peut-on donner à cette activité internationale québécoise ? Quels sont le contenu, la texture et la nature de cet objet ? Comment définir celui-ci ? Quels sont les repères théoriques et conceptuels pour baliser scientifiquement les relations extérieures du Québec ? Dans un contexte de scientificité, il est particulièrement «légitime de s’interroger sur la teneur et la nature de cette action » québécoise. / In matters of international relations, Quebec is one of the most active federated states. Nevertheless, the study of its external activities suffers from atony. Disciplinarily divergent and analytically restricted, “Quebec’s international relations were studied as a by-product of international relations ». Based on this quote from Professor Luc Bernier, we can imagine the limited consideration that the scientific community gave to the nature of those activities. As written by Minister Louise Beaudoin, “This subject was only explored, especially in its theoretical dimension ”. In fact, the exploration of the substance of those activities was rarely discussed in literature. There are very few researchers that rigorously wrote on the subject. Which interpretation may be given to Quebec’s international activities? What is the content, the texture and the nature of this object? How can we define it? What are the theoretical and conceptual landmarks to scientifically circumscribe Quebec’s external relations? In a context of scientificness, it is especially “legitimate to question ourselves on the content and the nature of this action » from Quebec. A literature review quickly reveals that it is generally accepted to describe this activity as “foreign policy”. If analysts diverge as to when Quebec’s foreign policy took form, many subject matter experts support the idea that Quebec was able to adopt such a tool. This foreign policy is usually mentioned and taken for granted both from the researcher and the decision maker. Its ontological foundations are rarely questioned. Since Quebec foreign relations were considered as an object of study , it is almost impossible to count the number of books, articles, publications and ministerial statements that are using this wording of external or foreign policy. As such, it has become part of the usual vocabulary of the discipline. Sometime used for the sake of easiness or convention and sometime selected as part of an informed epistemological choice, this question of Quebec’s foreign policy appears nowadays as “institutionally” established since it is rarely investigated and for all practical purpose never questioned. Even authors using different notions such as paradiplomacy to name Quebec’s international activities will also consider it as a foreign policy . At the same time, the increasingly rare researchers that still support the idea that foreign policy cannot be applied to Quebec’s international reality are not investigating the nature of this activity…The relevance of this thesis is precisely that it examines this topic. As such, in a scientific paradigm it is especially important to ask the following; does Quebec have a foreign policy? Considering the increasingly common thesis that a sovereign state, on the basis of the transmutation of the international system, is “no longer the sole protagonist of foreign policy” and that in consequence “external policy is no longer conducted solely at state level », namely the “materiality” of foreign policy outside of a nation-state , the question of the existence of a “foreign policy for Quebec” could seem quite simple at first glance, supporting the idea that such a tool is deployed by the province of Quebec. Nevertheless, this answer is more complex and delicate than what could be gathered from a cursory glance. It resides in the definition that we give to the concept of « foreign policy » as well as within the operationalization of this notion to Quebec’s international reality. Only this exercise will definitely enable us to support or reject the existence of Quebec’s foreign policy. The objective of this study is precisely to review Quebec’s foreign policy in light of the ontological parameters of this notion of external policy, in order to know if it complies with Quebec’s international reality. The question can be framed as follow; at which conditions can Quebec have a foreign policy?

It is more than a decade since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, and the European External Action Service (EEAS) was founded to unify the EU's foreign policy and make it more coherent and consistent. With the creation of the EEAS, the Commission delegations were transformed into EU delegations, and the delegations started to represent the whole EU abroad politically. The Lisbon Treaty clearly strengthened the EU foreign policy and arguably gave the EU a common voice in the world. However, the speed at which the transformation took, and takes place, is not the same in all third (non-EU) countries where the EU is present. Many scholars argue that there is still a lack of consistency in EU foreign policy, and some aspects of EU external action after Lisbon are still understudied, such as EU external action in specific regions. Against this backdrop, and within a theoretical framework of Frauke Austermann’s theory of a European diplomatic service of “different speeds,” this thesis examines the consistency of the political role between EU delegations in selected Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries in an attempt to answer the following research question: How consistent is the political role between EU delegations in the MENA region twelve years after the founding of the EEAS and the political sections of the delegations? This is done by conducting and analysing semi-structured interviews with diplomats working in the political sections of fourteen of the sixteen EU delegations in the region. With the help of a qualitative content analysis method, the consistency of the political role is examined by investigating the function of the political sections, their main tasks within the respective delegations and their relations and interaction with headquarters in Brussels, EU member states’ (EUMS) foreign missions and host country authorities. The findings of this thesis show that a few observations of the interviewees could put the consistency of the political role into question. The main issues concerned malfunctioning cooperation between the sections of the delegations, the influence of specific EUMSs on the work of the delegations and the poor staffing (although this was a rather consistent issue). Yet, for the most part, based on the aspects studied in this thesis, the political role proved to be very consistent between the delegations of the region.