The end of the Cold War and globalisation quintessentially characterize the international environment in the 21st century. The replacement of the bipolar international system by a unipolar one, with the United States as the only superpower, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many new regional subsystems of bilateral, trilateral and multilateral relationships or ententes came into being. The term entente or axis is defined in this work as an informal alliance based on a constellation of strategic, economic and political shared interests between two or more states. Using a new approach that combines Constructivist theory of international relations and transnationalism, this dissertation explores the entente between Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan as one such new type of relationship. Constructivism emphasizes the role of ideas, norms and state identities in shaping foreign policy, while transnationalism emphasizes the prominence of non-state and sub-state actors (epistemic communities, ethnic lobbies and transnational corporations) in foreign policy formation. A variety of qualitative and quantitative data collected during two years of fieldwork in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Israel and the United States, especially personal interviews, are analysed and informed by interpretive methodology. This dissertation analyses salient features of state identities in Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan. The role of state institutions and transnational levers in the maintenance of this pro-Western axis is explored. The central thesis is that the primacy of security was decisive in forging the respective foreign policies that produced this axis. Lastly, the dissertation demonstrates that domestic challenges to the status-quo state identities in these three countries undermine the continuity of this entente. Due to the fluctuating and dynamic nature of the international environment, 'fluctuating zones of influence' emerge. Importantly, the United States, as political hegemon, forcibly shapes the relationship between Israel, Turkey and Azerbaijan and will likely continue to do so.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:719139 |
Date | January 2008 |
Creators | Murinson, A. |
Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
Source Sets | Ethos UK |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1446288/ |
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