ABSTRACT

This chapter establishes a theoretical framework for the analysis of Turkey’s cooperation with the EU, using international relations theories as well as analytical tools from the foreign policy analysis literature, and details the research design focusing on the operationalisation of cooperation, case selection, and data collection. Theories examined in this chapter lay the foundations of different explanations for Turkish behaviour regarding interaction with the EU. Specifically, the chapter discusses key factors that rationalist and constructivist approaches identify in determining the costs and benefits or appropriateness of cooperation with the EU. For rationalist approaches, specific factors include low/high politics involving security and economic concerns, and urgency of action. Specific factors for constructivist approaches include political and cultural affinity affecting foreign policy decision-making processes and Turkish identification with the norms of appropriateness prompting cooperation with the EU. The chapter also discusses how rational and non-rational approaches to decision making can be reconciled and evaluates Turkish foreign policy decision-making processes, considering domestic politics, the concept of neo-Ottomanism, and the “Sèvres Syndrome”.