SSCI Journal Papers by Pinar Ipek
Turkish Studies, 2021
The energy politics highlight rising tensions and new cooperative patterns in
the Eastern Mediter... more The energy politics highlight rising tensions and new cooperative patterns in
the Eastern Mediterranean region. We question the reasons for the lack of
cooperation between Turkey and regional states during the regionalization
process, in terms of offshore hydrocarbon resources development, between
2010 and 2020. In contrast to power-driven accounts for cooperation, we
demonstrate the role of ideational mechanisms through framing analysis and
process tracing. We argue that Turkey’s isolation from the Eastern
Mediterranean Gas Forum and shifts in Turkish foreign policy preferences are
explained plausibly by cognitive priors, redefined causal ideas, and emulation
of exogenous ideas.
Middle Eastern Studies, 2017
The continuing dependency on fossil fuels of the Middle East not only in Turkey’s energy mix but ... more The continuing dependency on fossil fuels of the Middle East not only in Turkey’s energy mix but also in world energy demand requires further analysis of oil and conflict in the region since the fall of Mosul in Iraq to ISIS in June 2014. This article addresses the relationship between oil and conflict. Then, it examines the case of Turkey’s increasing energy relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to elucidate the implications of inter-state and intra-state conflict on regional interdependence in the region. The argument asserts that risks of an abrupt regime change or revolutionary regime formation in the aftermath of civil war in Syria and ethnic or sectarian violence in Iraq, which are highly associated with intra-state conflicts, present challenges for Turkey’s energy security and most importantly for human security in the region.
Foreign Policy Analysis, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 173-193 (online first published 15 August 2013), Apr 1, 2015
Constructivism in the International Relations literature mainly focuses on the constitutive inter... more Constructivism in the International Relations literature mainly focuses on the constitutive interaction between international norms and state actions. Few studies explore when ideas at the domestic level matter in foreign policy change. I propose a constructivist account for policy change that emphasizes not only ideas but also material interests as exogenous factors constituted within domestic structures. My empirical analysis in the case of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency reveals important evidence demonstrating the influence of (i) shared normative values, mostly constituted by the foreign policy elite's intersubjective understanding of Turkey's historical roots and cultural ties in the region and (ii) material interests, favored through the “trading state” and framed by the convergence of principled and causal beliefs on policy change. Ideas matter in foreign policymaking when a set of contingent conditions is satisfied: (i) A small group of recognized foreign policy elite has shared normative beliefs and (ii) an enabling political environment exists, particularly a majority government facilitating foreign policy appointments to key positions so that a window of opportunity is provided for policy entrepreneurship.
European Integration Online Papers, Jan 1, 2010
Although liberal intergovernmentalism claims that economic interest groups shape national prefere... more Although liberal intergovernmentalism claims that economic interest groups shape national preferences towards integration, while neofunctionalism assumes that these groups support integration for its expected economic benefits, these approaches cannot account for variation in EU integration across policy areas. We employ an analytical framework to explain divergent firm preferences towards integration in the EU-wide internal energy market. Building on Weber and Hallerberg’s (2001) specification of transaction costs and external (competitive) threat as independent variables in their model of divergence in firm preferences towards ‘binding’ EU rules, our analysis incorporates domestic market structure and firms’ international relationships as intervening (contextual) variables. Testing our argument in four cases—Germany, Italy, France and the UK—confirms that distinct national institutions promote divergent attitudes towards the internal energy market because domestic market structures and firms’ international settings respond to transaction costs and external threat in this market within the context of member states’ traditional local models of capitalism. In relation to theories of European integration, this study underscores the importance of varieties of capitalism in preference formation vis-à-vis integration, offering additional insights into the conditions under which national institutions have been influential in response to common external pressures in the energy market.
Europe-Asia Studies, Jan 1, 2007
This study examines the role of oil and gas in the making of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. It argu... more This study examines the role of oil and gas in the making of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. It argues that Kazakhstan has been following a multi-vector foreign policy in relation to its oil-led development and the geopolitics of exporting oil from this land-locked region. The significance of geopolitical considerations and the resulting pragmatism of Kazakhstan’s leadership only allow a limited role for national identity and internal political dynamics in the making of its foreign policy. Kazakhstan’s geopolitical imperatives force the country to keep good relations with Russia and China as well as with the US and the EU, as counter balancing partners.
The Middle East Journal, Jan 1, 2009
This article examines Azerbaijan’s foreign policy by demonstrating the interplay
between the oil... more This article examines Azerbaijan’s foreign policy by demonstrating the interplay
between the oil-led development process and early post-independence regional
conflicts that enforced a Western orientation in the country’s foreign policy. It is
argued that geopolitics continue to prevail in the strategic goals of Azerbaijan.
However, the new challenges in the emerging framework of energy security, which
extends beyond the revitalized geopolitical rivalries and preeminent concern over
securing energy supplies, put Azerbaijan’s foreign policy at a crossroads and require
a new trans-Atlantic partnership to promote human security and to manage
the risk entailed in the unpredictable policy environments of the Caspian region
Book Chapters by Pinar Ipek
Turkey's Pivot to Eurasia: Geopolitics and Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order, Seçkin Köstem and Emre Erşen (editors)' Routledge, 2019
This chapter aims to reassess the importance of Eurasia for Turkey’s energy security in light of ... more This chapter aims to reassess the importance of Eurasia for Turkey’s energy security in light of the debate on the emergence of an alternative Eurasian orientation in Turkish foreign policy. First, as a background the importance of this region for Turkey’s energy relations in two different periods is reviewed: (i) the initial challenges in pipeline politics in the 1990s, and (ii) the role of energy security in Turkish foreign policy in the 2000s. Then, the chapter is divided into four sections. The first section presents an overview of Turkey’s policy toward the Eurasian energy pipelines in the post-Cold War period. The second section shows the recent status of Turkey’s energy relations with Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The third section questions to what extent Eurasia remains critical for Turkey’s energy security within the context of its interdependence with the energy supplying countries in the region. The argument asserts that not only strategic interests driven by trade-offs, but also a cognitive bias driven to an extent by the worldview of the recent political leadership and mostly by the national identity conception of the ruling elite are important in understanding and explaining Turkey’s energy security in Eurasia. The concluding part underlines the limitations and opportunities in Turkey’s pivot to Eurasia in light of the country’s asymmetric interdependence with Russia in energy security.
This chapter examines how the role of energy security in Turkish foreign policy has been construc... more This chapter examines how the role of energy security in Turkish foreign policy has been constructed by ideational forces and material interests since 2004, when the Strategy Paper Concerning Electricity Market Reform and Privatization was issued. I argue that that the role of energy security in Turkish foreign policy was constructed both by the foreign policy elite’s normative principles about regional economic interdependence, which defined the social purpose of energy security based on the elite’s beliefs about Turkey’s cultural and historical ties in its neighbourhood, and by the material interests shared within the alliance between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and business in the conjunction of neoliberal regulatory reform in the Turkish energy sector. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first section defines Turkey’s energy-import dependency and highlights its puzzling asymmetric interdependence with gas suppliers. It also reviews early pipeline projects, which help us understand Turkey’s initial priorities and the related role of energy security in its foreign policy. The second section presents the interaction between ideational forces defining the social purpose of regional interdependence and material interests, which together have shaped the role of energy security in Turkey’s foreign policy. The last section concludes the chapter, and highlights the findings.
Uluslararası iliĢkilerde Soğuk SavaĢ sonrası dönemde devletlerin temel güvenlik ihtiyaçları dıĢın... more Uluslararası iliĢkilerde Soğuk SavaĢ sonrası dönemde devletlerin temel güvenlik ihtiyaçları dıĢında karĢılaĢtıkları sorunların kapsamı ve çeĢitliliği artmıĢ; yeni güvenlik tehditleri olarak nitelediğimiz bu çok boyutlu ve çok aktörlü çerçevede dıĢ politika yapım süreci, bu dönüĢümden etkilenmiĢtir. Yeni güvenlik tehditleri bağlamında enerji güvenliği, uluslararası iliĢkilerdeki dönüĢüme paralel, enerji pazarında geliĢen yeni yapısal değiĢiklikler doğrultusunda dıĢ politikada önemli bir yer edinmiĢtir.
Other Papers by Pinar Ipek
Navigating the Regional Chessboard: Europe's Options to Address Conflicts in the MENA Region, Achim Vogt and Sarah Schmid (eds.), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, December, 2020
Focusing on Turkey’s hydrocarbon resources policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, this paper highli... more Focusing on Turkey’s hydrocarbon resources policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, this paper highlights the ideational forces and material interests that have been shaping Ankara’s motivation in Libya. It argues that the dispute over the maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean is the ultimate driving force for Turkey’s cooperation with the GNA in Libya. In addition, Turkey’s economic interests in the MENA region and the importance of material benefits for political Islam in domestic politics across the region have been influencing regional struggles over oil wealth and power.
Panorama, 2020
OPEC+ grubunun 6 Mart'ta Viyana'da yaptığı toplantıda ham petrol üretiminde ek kesinti yapılması ... more OPEC+ grubunun 6 Mart'ta Viyana'da yaptığı toplantıda ham petrol üretiminde ek kesinti yapılması yönünde anlaşılamaması üzerine petrol piyasalarında başlayan kriz, farklı boyutlarda tartışılmaya devam ediyor. "Petrol fiyat savaşları" diye adlandırılan bu krizin kısa dönemde öncelikli etkileri genel olarak üç grupta değerlendirilmektedir: (i) petrol piyasasına etkileri, (ii) enerji jeopolitiğine etkileri ve (iii) petro-devletler diye adlandırılan, gayri safi milli hasılalarının yüzde onu veya fazlasını petrol ihracatından elde eden ülkelere etkileri. Bugün (10 Nisan) yapılacak G20 ülkeleri toplantısında petrol piyasasında yaşanan krizin görüşülecek olması, küresel enerji yönetişimindeki çıkış arayışlarının devam ettiğini gösteriyor.
Bilkent Energy Notes, Bilkent Energy Policy Research Center, 2019
This article aims to present Turkey’s sovereign rights and concerns over its continental shelf in... more This article aims to present Turkey’s sovereign rights and concerns over its continental shelf in the East Mediterranean region in the aftermath of the EU Foreign Affairs Council’s unjustified and biased conclusions about Turkey’s drilling activities in the region on 15 July 2019. Turkey’s position regarding the delimitation of the East Mediterranean Sea has two pillars: (i) Turkey’s sovereign rights on its continental shelf and related acts to protect these rights; (ii) the protection of the equal rights of the Turkish Cypriots, who are co-owners of the Cyprus Island, over the hydrocarbon resources of the island.
Ortadogu Analiz, Cilt 5, Sayi 50, s. 10-24., Feb 2013
10 Şubat 2013 -Cilt: 5 -Sayı: 50
Ortadogu Etudleri, Cilt. 3, Sayi.1, s. 61-90., Jul 2011
It is important to explain the state-building process in Iraq in order to understand the continui... more It is important to explain the state-building process in Iraq in order to understand the continuing problems of political consolidation in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion, which began on 20 March 2003. This article analyzes the problems that emerged out of the state-building model followed by the unilateral intervention of the US into Iraq within the context of political change theories in the development studies and the impact of such model on the historical trajectory of the Iraqi state. In this regard, the role of oil wealth in the state-building process of Iraq is discussed according to the theories of state in the literature of historical sociology. The main argument asserts that Iraq’s security, the success of its new political order and its legitimacy depends on how and to what extent the relationship between the state and society that has been determined by the structure of capital - strictly shaped by oil wealth - as well as the ideological, economic, military and social sources of power, embedded in the society through history at different levels, can be changed given the preferences and discourses of actors at local, regional, international and transnational levels in the globalization process.
Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 29-45, 2013
This study examines the importance of legitimacy in hegemony through the changes and continuities... more This study examines the importance of legitimacy in hegemony through the changes and continuities in the structures of global political economy. It is argued that a state-centric approach to hegemony is insufficient, and that the legitimacy of or consent for dominant neoliberal ideas and norms have been undermined by the structural problems and ongoing transformations in the global political economy.
Ortadoğu Analiz, 1 (11), p. 58-66., Nov 2009
In Iraq, bombing attacks that occured just before the 16 January 2010 elections and caused the de... more In Iraq, bombing attacks that occured just before the 16 January 2010 elections and caused the death of hundreds of people in Baghdad, put the issues such as the difficulties of the state building process and security back to the agenda. This paper focuses on the importance of oil and natural gas resources for security and stability of Iraq and problems related to it. Building on the argument that the state building process is a major factor in providing security, the influence of the ownership, management and income distribution of natural resources on this process is discussed.
Turkey's geopolitical location is crucial to diversify and secure the energy-transportation route... more Turkey's geopolitical location is crucial to diversify and secure the energy-transportation routes for the EU energy markets. However, the challenges stemming from the EU's energy policy, the geopolitics of Kazakh oil and Turkmen gas, and the increasing turbulence in Middle East are important to secure and diversify resources for the planned energy hub in Turkey. Rather than the EU members' individual initiatives, an external energy policy should be in place to carry out the planning and the financing of the required infrastructure in coordination with the on-going projects for an energy hub in Turkey. This article argues that there is no political determination to create a fully integrated internal energy market and a coherent external energy policy in the EU. In the lack of such a political determination not only the EU energy security strategy but also the planned energy hub in Turkey, emphasized as "strategic importance to the EU," will be undermined.
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SSCI Journal Papers by Pinar Ipek
the Eastern Mediterranean region. We question the reasons for the lack of
cooperation between Turkey and regional states during the regionalization
process, in terms of offshore hydrocarbon resources development, between
2010 and 2020. In contrast to power-driven accounts for cooperation, we
demonstrate the role of ideational mechanisms through framing analysis and
process tracing. We argue that Turkey’s isolation from the Eastern
Mediterranean Gas Forum and shifts in Turkish foreign policy preferences are
explained plausibly by cognitive priors, redefined causal ideas, and emulation
of exogenous ideas.
between the oil-led development process and early post-independence regional
conflicts that enforced a Western orientation in the country’s foreign policy. It is
argued that geopolitics continue to prevail in the strategic goals of Azerbaijan.
However, the new challenges in the emerging framework of energy security, which
extends beyond the revitalized geopolitical rivalries and preeminent concern over
securing energy supplies, put Azerbaijan’s foreign policy at a crossroads and require
a new trans-Atlantic partnership to promote human security and to manage
the risk entailed in the unpredictable policy environments of the Caspian region
Book Chapters by Pinar Ipek
Other Papers by Pinar Ipek
the Eastern Mediterranean region. We question the reasons for the lack of
cooperation between Turkey and regional states during the regionalization
process, in terms of offshore hydrocarbon resources development, between
2010 and 2020. In contrast to power-driven accounts for cooperation, we
demonstrate the role of ideational mechanisms through framing analysis and
process tracing. We argue that Turkey’s isolation from the Eastern
Mediterranean Gas Forum and shifts in Turkish foreign policy preferences are
explained plausibly by cognitive priors, redefined causal ideas, and emulation
of exogenous ideas.
between the oil-led development process and early post-independence regional
conflicts that enforced a Western orientation in the country’s foreign policy. It is
argued that geopolitics continue to prevail in the strategic goals of Azerbaijan.
However, the new challenges in the emerging framework of energy security, which
extends beyond the revitalized geopolitical rivalries and preeminent concern over
securing energy supplies, put Azerbaijan’s foreign policy at a crossroads and require
a new trans-Atlantic partnership to promote human security and to manage
the risk entailed in the unpredictable policy environments of the Caspian region