Sabancı University
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Conflict Analysis and Resolution Seminar
Cenk Saraçoğlu
(Başkent University)
AKP'S FOREIGN POLICY DISCOURSE AND THE REDEFINITION OF "NATION" IN TURKISH POLITICS
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
10:15 a.m. 12:00 p.m. / FASS 2034
ABSTRACT:
AKP'S FOREIGN POLICY DISCOURSE AND THE REDEFINITION OF "NATION" IN TURKISH POLITICS
AKP’s ideological orientation possesses definitive features of nationalism: it envisions “nation” as a homogenous political entity with the members sharing some common characteristics; it presumes that the members of this nation share a common past; and it assumes a set of common national interests that concerns and cuts across every member of the nation. However, AKP also represents, in some respects, a historically specific form of nationalism in Turkish political history, as it formulates and constructs the conceptions of “nation”, “national history” and “national interests” in a distinctive manner. In this respect AKP can also be seen as a party that forges an ideological struggle aiming to dispossess the notion of nation from Kemalist nationalism and define it in a different way that suits to its own political project.
P.S: The seminar will be held in English.
