Ali Murat Kurşun
Aberystwyth University, International Politics, Graduate Student
- Marmara University, International Relations, Department Memberadd
- Ali Murat Kursun is a PhD candidate at Aberystwyth University's International Politics department. Kursun received hi... moreAli Murat Kursun is a PhD candidate at Aberystwyth University's International Politics department. Kursun received his BA from the department of Political Science and International Relations of the Faculty of Political Sciences at Marmara University, Istanbul. Kursun completed his MA at the department of International Relations of Istanbul Bilgi University with a dissertation entitled "Looking Into Sykes-Picot Order: Intra-Regional Dynamics in the Making of Modern Middle Eastern Borders". His main academic interests are English school theory, global governance, regional international societies, and theoretical analysis of Turkish foreign policy and the Middle East. He is the co-editor of Violent Non State Actors and the Syrian Civil War (2018, Springer) and his articles were published in International Journal, Global Politics, International Politics, and Third World Quarterly. Kursun is the director of Istanbul-based resarch group Global Studies Platform, deputy editor of Rising Powers Quarterly, and board member of the Association of Researchers on the Middle East and Africa (ORDAF).edit
This study aims to evaluate the emergence of the Sykes-Picot order and deconstruct its mythologization by proposing an evolutionary assessment of border understanding. This study addresses the following primary research questions: How did... more
This study aims to evaluate the emergence of the Sykes-Picot order and deconstruct its mythologization by proposing an evolutionary assessment of border understanding. This study addresses the following primary research questions: How did the interplay of domestic, regional, and international developments lay the groundwork for the formation of the Sykes-Picot territorial order? How was the administrative structure and regional divisions before the Sykes-Picot agreement and to which border categorizations did these structures correspond? Was the Sykes-Picot agreement the only international intervention that affected the borders of the region or were there other international interventions before the Sykes-Picot agreement? This study argues that the history of Middle Eastern border formation is not only an international one but also involves many aspects that have not widely been taken into consideration. In doing so, this paper adopts a critical historical perspective to analyze the evolution of Middle Eastern borders. This paper proposes a three-tracked evolutionary analytical framework (frontiers, boundaries, borders) to analyze the emergence of borders and applies it to the emergence of Ottoman territoriality. This study concludes that the Sykes-Picot agreement is only one, complementary part of a long process in the emergence of Middle Eastern geopolitics.
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This article attempts to assess Turkey’s accommodation to the US-led global governance at the institutional level using T.V. Paul’s institutional accommodation strategy. In doing so, it specifically deals with Turkey’s accommodation in... more
This article attempts to assess Turkey’s accommodation to the US-led global governance at the institutional level using T.V. Paul’s institutional accommodation strategy. In doing so, it specifically deals with Turkey’s accommodation in two specific international institutions: the UN as the major global governance institution and the G20 as an informal international platform. Departing from the existing literature on accommodation, this study first proposes and outlines a new typology for peaceful accommodation. The second part seeks to analyze and compare the main driving factors of Turkey’s institutional accommodation in the UN and G20. Finally, the third part seeks to operationalize the analytical framework of institutional accommodation strategy for understanding Turkey’s institutional accommodation in the examples of the UN and G20. This study concludes that although Turkey’s accommodation and its institutional form can be nuanced from that of other rising states, Turkey has the capacity to act as an “intermediary accommodator” for becoming a responsible stakeholder in global governance.
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This study attempts to analyse Turkey’s contribution to the United Nations (UN) system in comparison with those of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries between 2008 and 2014 on three levels: personnel,... more
This study attempts to analyse Turkey’s contribution to the United Nations (UN) system in comparison with those of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries between 2008 and 2014 on three levels: personnel, financial, ideational. Employing an integrated methodology of a global governance contribution index (GGCI) and statistical analysis of complementary raw data, this study empirically reveals the degree to which Turkey was able to transfer its capabilities into an effective contribution to the UN system on the three levels. Drawing on the findings of its quantitative analysis, this paper further qualitatively assesses the reasons behind the gap between Turkey’s global governance motivations and its contribution to the UN system. In doing so, this study, first, deals with the main motivational drivers of its activism in global governance in the 2000s. After unpacking its integrated methodology, the second part of this study quantitatively compares Turkey’s contribution to the UN system to that of the BRICS. The third part of this study delves into the main trends and deficiencies in Turkey’s contribution to the UN system. Finally, this study concludes that Turkey, despite its high motivations for activism in global governance, has not performed well in transferring its capacities into contributions to the UN system, particularly on financial and personnel levels.
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The Sykes-Picot metaphor has incrementally become firmly associated with almost all the geopolitical predicaments the Middle Eastern states had to face. Added to this, increasing challenges to the established territorial order of the... more
The Sykes-Picot metaphor has incrementally become firmly associated with almost all the geopolitical predicaments the Middle Eastern states had to face. Added to this, increasing challenges to the established territorial order of the Middle Eastern countries combined with the complicated structure of the Syrian civil war have once again centered the Sykes-Picot narrative on the academic and popular discussions about the future of the Middle Eastern order. However, despite a recently emerged trend attempting to unclose the historical continuity of the interplay between local, regional and international factors, they neither provide deeper insights about the historical interplay between different factors nor bring new analytical assessments. Departing from this lacuna in the literature, this study attempts to find answers to the following main research questions: How did the interplay of the array of domestic, regional, and international factors laid the groundwork for the formation of the Sykes-Picot territorial order? What are the types of borders and how can they be theoretically categorized for being used as an analytical tool? How was the administrative structure and divisions of the regions before the Sykes-Picot agreement and to which border categorizations do these structures correspond? Drawing largely on the existing theoretical assumptions of border studies, this study attempts to apply a three-tracked typology of borders (fronties, boundaries, borders) to the historical interplay between local, regional and international factors during the process of the formation of modern Middle Eastern borders. Arguing that the Sykes-Picot agreement constitutes only one of the aspects of the Middle Eastern border formation, this study concludes that there is a historical linkage between the evolution of the Ottoman domestic territorial administrative system with the adjustments of the subsequent regional and international developments regarding the formation of the Middle Eastern borders.