Ethnic Nationalism and Adaptation in Cyprus

Both ethnic communities in Cyprus have maintained strong political and cultural ties with Greece and Turkey, respectively, and at some point of their twentieth century history, each has aspired to become part of either the former or the latter. Yet the way this relationship has been imagined has differed across time, space, and class. Both communities have adapted their identities to prevailing ideological waves as well as political opportunities, domestic alliances, and interests. The article evaluates different responses to ethnic nationalism, highlighting important intra-ethnic differentiations within each Cypriot community usually expressed in the positions of political parties, intellectuals, and the press. While the current literature identifies two major poles of identity in the island, "motherland nationalism" and "Cypriotism," the article suggests that the major focus of identity of Cypriots is identification with their respective ethnic communities in the form of Greek Cypriotism or Turkish Cypriotism. In fact, contentious politics in Cyprus from the ENOSIS/TAKSIM struggle to the April 2004 referendum demonstrate the interplay of external constraints and collective self-identification processes leading to the formation of these identities. The article concludes by identifying the implications of identity shifts for deeply divided societies and conflict resolution in general.

Continuity and Change in the European Union’s Approach to Enlargement::Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe compared

Existing studies of European Union (EU) enlargement provide few answers to questions concerning continuity and change in the dynamics of the process. This article identifies a number of conditioning factors that have shaped the EU’s approach to eastern enlargement and traces elements of continuity and change in the EU’s handling of Turkey’s membership aspirations. The article focuses on three established factors – member state preferences, supranational activism and EU capacity – and two less prominent factors – public opinion and narrative frame

Rough Waters, Dark Shadows and Cross-Cutting Winds:the impact of European Union enlargement on Turkey’s EU accession negotiations

For a multiplicity of socio-economic, geo-political, strategic and identity-based reasons, Turkey’s progress towards EU membership is often treated as a sui generis case. Yet although Turkey’s accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) are essentially a bilateral – and often stormy – affair, they take place within a wider and dynamic process of enlargement in which not only can the gloomy – sometimes dark – shadows of past and prospective enlargements be clearly detected, but so too can the often chill winds from ongoing, parallel negotiations with other candidates. How the EU negotiates accession and what it expects from candidates has continued to evolve since the EU began drawing up its framework for negotiations with Turkey ten years ago. This paper charts this evolution by first identifying changes in the light of Croatia’s negotiating experience, the ‘lessons learnt’ by the EU in meeting the challenges of Bulgarian and Romanian accession, the EU’s handling of Iceland’s membership bid and accession negotiations, and the revised approach to negotiating accession evident in the more recent frameworks for accession negotiations with Montenegro and Serbia. The paper then explores the extent to which these changes have impacted on the approach the EU has adopted in framing and progressing accession negotiations with Turkey. In doing so, it questions both the consistency with which the EU’s negotiates accession and the extent to which Turkey’s progress towards EU membership is conditioned by the broader dynamics of EU enlargement as opposed to simply the dynamics within EU-Turkey relations and domestic Turkish reform efforts.

Turkey and the EU: Looking Beyond the Pessimism

This paper analyses the reasons for frustration and pessimism about Turkey-EU relations. It focuses on the impact of the crisis in Europe, the 2014 EP elections and selection of Jean-Claude Juncker for the Commission President post on Turkey’s EU accession process. Finally, the paper tries to answer how the current pessimism over Turkey-EU relations can be overcome.

Introduction: the impact of the 'War on Terror' on executive–legislative relations: a global perspective

In democratic polities, constitutional equilibria or balances of power between the executive and the legislature shift over time. Normative and empirical political theorists have long recognised that war, civil unrest, economic and political crises, terrorist attacks, and other events strengthen the power of the executive, disrupt and threaten constitutional politics, and damage democratic institutions: crises require swift action and executives are thought to be more capable than parliaments and legislatures of taking such actions. The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 and the ensuing so-called 'war on terror' declared by President Bush clearly constituted a crisis, not only in the United States but also in other political systems, in part because of the US's hegemonic position in defining and shaping many other states' foreign and domestic policies. Dicey, Schmitt, and Rossiter suggest that critical events and political crises inevitably trigger the concentration of (emergency) powers in the hands of the executive. Aristotle and Machiavelli questioned the inevitability of this process. This article and the articles that follow in this Special Issue utilise empirical evidence, through the use of case studies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Israel, Italy and Indonesia, to address this debate. Specifically, the issue explores to what extent the external shock or crisis of 9/11 (and other terrorist attacks) and the ensuing 'war on terror' significantly changed the balance of executive-legislative relations from t (before the crisis) to t+1 (after the crisis) in these political systems, all of which were the targets of actual or foiled terrorist attacks. The most significant findings are that the shock of 9/11 and the 'war on terror' elicited varied responses by national executives and legislatures/parliaments and thus the balance of executive-legislative relations in different political systems; that, therefore, executive-legislative relations are positive rather than zero-sum; and that domestic political contexts conditioned these institutional responses.

A Constructivist perspective on EU'S democracy promotion in Turkey

The European Union, as a regional actor and an example of stability and well-being, has embraced a set of principles it has stood for and which constitute its own identity. The diffusion of these values among third countries is one of the objectives of EU’s External Policy. Democracy can be found among the principles that are sought to be exported through comprehensive and complex strategies within different frameworks, such as neighbourhood relations, trade partnerships and the accession process. Focusing on the latter, candidates are object of an intensive process of Europeanisation that operates through different mechanisms like socialisation and conditionality. Turkey, on the other side, has decided to apply for full membership several decades ago and, ever since, it has been pressured to Europeanise, which includes improving its unstable democracy. This case, however, is different from all other previous enlargements; for its special socio-cultural and civilisational features, Turkey constitutes a more complex novelty for the European Union. Therefore, this thesis aims to study the influence of the European Union on the democratisation process of Turkey, focusing on the period ranging between 1999, the year the European Council recognised Turkey’s candidacy status, and 2009 that marks the 10-year period of that condition. It is the intention of this project to assess the impact of the European Union at that level through the study of the democratic evolution of the country and its co-relation with other variables related to the presence or pressure of the EU. As this is a challenging objective, it will require a deep reflection upon central concepts like democracy and democratic consolidation, and a diversified use of methodological techniques, such as statistical analysis and mathematical co-relations, historical analysis, literature review and in-depth interviews. This study will privilege a Constructivist approach, emphasising the social construction of reality and the role of the ideational aspects – identity, perceptions and the broader socio-cultural dimension – in Turkey-EU relations.

A DYNAMIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE RELATIONS BETWEEN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES, SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS

The Meese-Rogoff forecasting puzzle states that foreign exchange (FX) rates are unpredictable. Since one country’s macroeconomic conditions could affect the price of its national currency, we study the dynamic relations between the FX rates and some macroeconomic accounts. Our research tests whether the predictability of the FX rates could be improved through the advanced econometrics. Improving the predictability of the FX rates has important implications for various groups including investors, business entities and the government. The present thesis examines the dynamic relations between the FX rates, savings and investments for a sample of 25 countries from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. We apply quarterly data of FX rates, macroeconomic indices and accounts including the savings and the investments over three decades. Through preliminary Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root tests and Johansen cointegration tests, we found that the savings rate and the investment rate are cointegrated with the vector (1,-1). This result is consistent with many previous studies on the savings-investment relations and therefore confirms the validity of the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle. Because of the special cointegrating relation between the savings rate and investment rate, we introduce the savings-investment rate differential (SID). Investigating each country through a vector autoregression (VAR) model, we observe extremely insignificant coefficient estimates of the historical SIDs upon the present FX rates. We also report similar findings through the panel VAR approach. We thus conclude that the historical SIDs are useless in forecasting the FX rate. Nonetheless, the coefficients of the past FX rates upon the current SIDs for both the country-specific and the panel VAR models are statistically significant. Therefore, we conclude that the historical FX rates can conversely predict the SID to some degree. Specifically, depreciation in the domestic currency would cause the increase in the SID.

Les perceptions de la sexualité et les relations de couple de femmes haïtiennes immigrantes au Québec : pour une exploration des rapports hommes femmes en Haïti

Ce mémoire a étudié les perceptions de femmes haïtiennes vivant au Québec depuis moins de cinq ans de leurs relations sexuelles avec les hommes et de leurs rapports de couple. Après avoir opté pour une méthodologie de recherche qualitative, la théorie féministe intersectionnelle a été retenue comme cadre d’analyse. Des entretiens individuels semi-dirigés ont été menés auprès de 9 femmes haïtiennes, âgées de 18 à 60 ans et ayant immigré au Québec depuis moins de cinq ans. Les perceptions des femmes de la sexualité ont été appréhendées comme étant un ensemble de discours et de pratiques inter reliés, qui se construit dès l’enfance, et qui reproduit les types de rapports inégalitaires entre hommes et femmes qui existent dans la société haïtienne et dans leur couple. Ces rapports inégalitaires sont véhiculés entre les générations à travers la plupart des institutions sociales comme la famille, l’école, la culture, la législation. Ce processus de construction des perceptions de la sexualité est également influencé par des enjeux socio-économiques et de pouvoir. Les résultats de cette recherche permettent de disposer de données scientifiques sur la sexualité des femmes et les rapports de couple en Haïti et l’influence du processus migratoire. Ces résultats soulignent également la nécessité pour le travail social haïtien d’encourager le développement de l’empowerment économique des femmes et leur participation aux débats actuels de la société sur l’évolution de la condition féminine.

Implementación de estrategias de poder por parte de Irán, Turquía y Arabia Saudita en la disputa por la hegemonía de Medio Oriente. Periodo 2005-2012.

El interés de esta monografía es analizar las distintas estrategias políticas, económicas y militares que han implementado Irán, Turquía y Arabia Saudita en busca de la hegemonía de Medio Oriente. A lo largo del trabajo de investigación se analiza por medio del realismo ofensivo de John Mearsheimer las distintas estrategias de los tres Estados antes mencionados, con el fin de establecer la voluntad y las capacidades de cada uno para alcanzar la hegemonía regional. Finalmente, por medio de la medición de percepción de poder establecida por David Jablonsky se examinan las capacidades y la proyección de poder que poseen Irán, Turquía y Arabia Saudita para obtener la hegemonía de Medio Oriente.

La política exterior turca en el marco del Complejo de Seguridad Regional de Medio Oriente. Del soft power al smart power. (2002 - 2013)

Dada la confluencia de Turquía en Asia, Medio Oriente, los Balcanes y Europa, el gobierno está en la necesidad de responder a los desafíos de ser un Estado pivote. Es en este punto donde su política exterior se convierte en la mayor herramienta para sobresalir y sobrevivir en un ambiente heterogéneo. El objetivo de esta monografía de grado es analizar la política exterior turca en el marco del Complejo de Seguridad Regional de Medio Oriente a partir de los aportes de la Escuela de Copenhague y su Teoría de los Complejos de Seguridad Regional, para comprender sus estrategias de soft y hard power en su política exterior a fin de analizar si se consolidó un smart power que permita posicionar a Turquía en una potencia regional.

Who remembers Turkey's pre-accession? CEPS Special Report No. 74/December 2012

In 2005 the EU and Turkey officially started accession negotiations that were intended to lead to Turkey’s full membership of the EU. Yet today, the Turkish accession process has virtually ground to a halt and lost all credibility. Talk of alternatives to full membership can be heard from various sides; we highlight four instances of what we call ‘parallelism’, namely the elusive concept of a ‘privileged partnership’, the EU-Turkey customs union, the recently launched ‘Positive Agenda’ and Turkish participation in the Energy Community Treaty. While a privileged partnership represents a more comprehensive but still remote framework for EU-Turkish relations, the latter three are merely an escape route from preaccession. We conclude our analysis with a discussion on Turkey’s possible membership of the European Economic Area, which in effect would serve none of the parties involved. We conclude that both partners, the EU and Turkey, would be well advised to remember their pre-accession commitments of 13 years ago – for their mutual benefit.

Giving up reporting the aggressor: reports of female victims of domestic violence

The goal of this study is to describe the experience of female victims of domestic violence, who forfeited the lawsuits against their aggressors. The interviews were oriented by the question: What was your experience of forfeiting the denunciation of your aggressor? Three themes emerged from the convergence of the testimonies: time passed from the aggression to the denunciation and then to the forfeiting; the partner, the family, the women's precinct; reflecting about the experience, which described the studied phenomenon. The women expressed ambiguous feelings for their aggressor: affection, anger, humiliation and fear. They recognize that they are dominated and humiliated, but notions of justice and equality between spouses do not appear in the testimonies. Forfeiting can be understood in the context of the reproduction of the traditional family structure, conditioned to economic and social factors. Results highlight implications about the role of the Women's Precinct and the healthcare institutions in the care for women who were victims of domestic violence.

Do domestic interests matter? – Der Einfluss nationaler Interessengruppen auf die Position von Staaten zur Umweltpolitik auf EU-Ebene

Wie kann man Ergebnisse internationaler Umweltpolitik erklären? Wie hilfreich ist dabei die liberale Theorie der Internationalen Beziehungen (IB) von Andrew Moravcsik? Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht diese Fragen anhand eines Fallbeispiels internationaler Umweltpolitik – der Position der Bundesrepublik Deutschland bezüglich der einzelnen Streitfragen der EU-Verordnung 443/2009 über den CO2-Ausstoß von Automobilen – zu beantworten. Es wird eine theoriegeleitete Außenpolitikanalyse durchgeführt, deren Hauptaugenmerk auf der spezifischen nationalen Präferenzbildung in einem bestimmten Fall liegt. Hier weist Moravcsiks Theorie eine „Lücke“ auf. Wessen Interessen sich aus welchen Gründen in einer bestimmten Situation wie durchsetzen und damit Politik beeinflussen bleibt unklar. Deshalb erweitert die Arbeit Moravcsiks liberale Theorie der IB mithilfe von Annahmen und Erkenntnissen aus der Verbändeforschung nach innen. Auf diese Weise werden die situationsspezifischen Interessen und die situationsspezifische Durchsetzungsfähigkeit der betroffenen Akteure – nationale Interessengruppen – erhoben und untersucht, inwiefern man mit ihrer Hilfe die deutsche Position zur EU-Verordnung 443/2009 erklären kann. Empirisch erweist sich dabei, dass die Position der BRD zu acht von neun Streitfragen der EU-Verordnung 443/2009 den Interessen einer Koalition aus Industriegewerkschaft (IG) Metall und Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) entsprach, weil diese im vorliegenden Fall mit Abstand die größte Durchsetzungsfähigkeit aufwiesen. Lediglich bezüglich einer Streitfrage wich die Position der BRD von den Interessen von IG Metall und VDA ab. Damit lässt sich festhalten: Die Position der BRD zur EU-Verordnung 443/2009 kann weitgehend mithilfe der nach innen erweiterten liberalen Theorie nach Andrew Moravcsik erklärt werden. Trotz möglicher Schwierigkeiten bei der Übertragung erscheint daher eine Anwendung des nach innen erweiterten Liberalismus auf weitere erklärungsbedürftige Phänomene der internationalen Umweltpolitik und damit eine Überprüfung der Theorie insgesamt eine interessante und sinnvolle Aufgabe zu sein.

The Lord of Heaven in the Inner Chambers: Jesuits, Women, and Domestic Christianity (ca. 1580-1690)

The study focuses on gender norms and practices in Chinese Christian communities established by Jesuit missionary activity during the long seventeenth century. It analyzes how European and Chinese gender norms and practices affected each other in the context of the Sino-Western cultural contact initiated by the missionaries. The thesis consists of two parts. First, it analyzes the ways in which European Jesuits engaged with Chinese gender relations in the course of their mission in China. The study demonstrates that the Jesuits’ adoption of the Chinese scholar-gentry’s habitus entailed a partial adaptation to Confucian gender norms. The latter placed great emphasis on gender segregation and therefore discouraged direct communication between missionaries and Chinese women. This resulted in the emergence of organizational and devotional arrangements of Christian communities specific to China. Second, the study discusses Chinese Christian women's religious culture that emerged in the absence of a strong missionary presence among female devotees. It points out that Chinese Christian women created their own ritual culture and religious sociability in the domestic context, and that they actively took part in shaping Chinese Christianity as masters of domestic rituals.

The Study of International Cultural Relations of Postwar Japan

The paper examines policies and activities of cultural exchange carried out by Japanese national, local and private agents since the end of WWII. Methodologically, we distinctively use the notion culture as a tool and as an object of study, and to synthesize the two in full intention, based on the debate among IR students about so called Cultural Turn in IR theories. As case studies, the Japanese experiences are examined from two points. Firstly, it is compared with the German experiences in Europe, with special attention to the construction of national identity.In both countries, the peoples tried to make use of cultural exchange activities in the management of international relations. The actual developments of cultural relations by the two countries, however, were in striking contrast to each other. Secondly, our study focuses on the explosive expansion of private sector's international cultural exchange in the 1980s in association with so called "emerging civil society" phenomenon observed worldwide throughout 1970s and 1980s. By using our original approach mentioned in the Chapter 1, the paper tries to sketch out that the increase of the private organizations is largely the response of the Japanese society to outside influences, not something genuinely outgrown from within the society itself due to mainly domestic causes.