M.A. Theses

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A "democratic realist" foreign policy: U.S. democracy promotion in the Middle East and the case of Egypt
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2007., 2007.) Yaylacı, İsmail.; Eder, Mine,
This thesis analyzes the vision that governs U.S. democracy promotion policy in the Middle East that has been put into practice after September 11 in the particular case of Egypt. The thesis argues that U.S. democracy promotion policy has been theorized and implemented through a neoconservative ‘democratic realist’ foreign policy approach which aims at consolidating authoritarian cooperative regimes through empowering the already excessively powerful executives while opening a limited space for political opposition. In other words the thesis argues that the neoconservative ‘democratic realist’ frameworks for U.S. foreign policy envision a ‘liberal autocratic’ model in their democracy promotion policies in the Middle East whereby the existing authoritarian allies manage, rather than negate, pluralism through institutional and legal engineering and coercion which aims at consolidating authoritarianisms instead of democratization of the Middle East polities. The thesis investigates the IR theoretical repercussions of this neoconservative ‘democratic realist’ foreign policy approach. It argues that constructivist reading provide us with substantial analytical tools in order to go beyond the orthodox theoretical dichotomy of realism and liberalism to see how neoconservative thinkers create a blend of realist and liberal frameworks in their approach to U.S. democracy promotion in the Middle East. The thesis also analyzes the criticisms of radical/critical IR theories about the nature of democracy that is on the democracy promotion agenda.
A critical analysis :|labor in Marx, Negri and feminist critiques
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022.) Yaltırık, Talita.; Demiryol, Gaye İlhan.
This thesis aims to examine Marx’s and Negri’s understandings of labor and feminist critiques of them by tracing the different interpretations of Marx’s critique of political economy and his understanding of social reality by Negri and feminist approaches. In this examination, the spatial and temporal grounds of their understandings and their approaches to body are also questioned. Firstly, Marx’s and Negri’s understandings of labor are examined in terms of these aspects. Secondly, the critiques of Negri through Marx are presented, and how Marx’s understanding goes beyond Negri’s approach is demonstrated. Finally, feminist critiques of Negri’s understanding are presented, and feminist critiques and reconsiderations of Marx’s understanding are examined. Based on these, how a feminist reconsideration of Marx’s approach in light of feminist critiques goes beyond Negri’s understanding is demonstrated. Through this critical examination, firstly, this thesis aims to contribute to comprehending the different understandings of labor in the history of social and political thought and to the analysis of the contemporary appearances of labor, spatial-temporal experience and the body in patriarchal capitalism. Secondly, Negri’s search for the displacement of dialectics is examined critically as an appearance of the dominant tendency of searching for ‘alternatives’ to ‘Hegelian Marxism’. Through the critical examination of a particular appearance of this tendency, which can be traced back to the twentieth century and which is still influential in contemporary social and political theory, it is aimed to contribute to understanding this transformation in the history of social and political thought.
A critical examination of Wendy Brown’s and Michel Foucault’s respective understandings of the political
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022.) Öztürk, İrem Oral.; Demiryol, Gaye İlhan.
In her works on neoliberalism, Wendy Brown examines a process in which every sphere of human existence, including the political, has been subjected to neoliberal rationality and economization. Although her analysis is based on Michel Foucault’s investigation of neoliberalism, unlike Foucault, Brown’s main concern is the effect of this neoliberal transformation on democracy. Brown criticizes Foucault for failing to analyze the link between neoliberal rationality and democratic politics and claims that this failure derives from his formulation of the political which is largely limited to concepts like “sovereignty”. This thesis critically examines Brown’s and Foucault’s respective formulations of the political. Identifying a certain inconsistency regarding the political between Brown’s two main works on neoliberalism, it claims that this inconsistency derives from Brown’s desire to counter neoliberal attacks with a political subject, which leads to an ontological conception of the political. Subsequently analyzing Michel Foucault’s understanding of the political, it concurs that any fixed and generic formulation of the political would be antithetical to Foucault’s philosophy. Then it suggests that Foucault’s understanding of the political, reflecting a commitment to desubjugation and self transformation, might be of help for countering the attack of neoliberalism with a democratic politics and does not contradict with Brown’s philosophical and political endeavor.
A methodological critique of studies on multicultural policies and sociocultural integration
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Morrison, Mitchell Max.; Çınar, Dilek.
A contentious debate over migration in Europe has emerged in recent years, with a significant amount of attention focusing on the perceived lack of immigrant integration into the receiving host countries’ societies. This thesis will look at the academic debate concerning socio-cultural integration [SCI] and its relationship with policies on cultural recognition, also called multiculturalism policies [MCP]. Within a group of cross national, comparative studies purporting to measure the same socio-cultural integration indicators, certain studies exist with directly contrasting and contradicting results. The inconsistent results are partially due to inconsistently defined independent and dependent variables, but this methodological inconsistency is not immediately clear to an observer, such a policymaker, who might look through the studies in an attempt to discover which localities and policies produce the most conducive environments to encouraging immigrant integration. In addition, a large number of external and internal factors have also been demonstrated to have an effect on socio-cultural integration, thus making any causal links between multicultural policies and socio-cultural integration difficult to ascertain. For this reason, this thesis will critically examine the aforementioned inconsistencies in the existing research agenda and prescribe recommendations to correct and streamline the agenda in the concluding chapter.
A study of power: the making of the Turkish electricity market
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Sözer, Pınar.; Çalışkan, Koray,
As a study of power and market-making, this thesis analyzes the political and economic dynamics of the making, maintenance, transformation, consolidation and current state of the Turkish electricity market. It examines the utilization of disciplinary discourses and expert knowledge claims; the manipulation of the dynamics with respect to market power and political power; market tools, devices, and information technologies; and the mechanisms and factors in the price realization from an actor-network perspective, which incorporates multiple market agencies and the active agency of the commodity under analysis. The underlying research is based on an official document analysis that reviews the established legal framework for the marketization of electricity, non-structured and semi-structured in-depth interviews with market actors, and secondary data analysis which explores the dynamics that enframe the making, transformation and state of the Turkish electricity market. The thesis illustrates that the most important determinant in the construction, establishment, maintenance, and consolidation of the Turkish electricity market is the active agency of the commodity itself. The analysis presents the ways in which, through the marketization process, not only the notion of the Turkish electricity market is constructed in terms of power relations in the exchange of electricity, but also how notions of the market, the economic, the social, and the political, as well as the conceptualization of individual and nature are recoded and transformed. It demonstrates that there is no economy without electricity, and no politics without economics within the current marketization process in Turkey.
Alevi politics of recognition: transformation of Alevism and two kinds of recognition politics
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009., 2009.) Aydın, Bengü.; Bilgen, Ayşen Candaş.
This study scrutinizes how the dominant political discourse on religion effects the transformation of Alevism and the Alevi politics of recognition. It attempts to demonstrate the constituents of this dominant political discourse on religion towards Alevism by mainly using the debates sparkled by the AKP’s Alevi Opening in order to present the positions of those holding political power and of the prominent Alevi organizations within the Alevi movement. Although the emergence of Alevi movement beginning from the 1990s has already led to the formalization and standardization of traditional Alevism which we can trace in three examples of core elements of Alevism, cem ceremonies, semahs and dedelik institutiton, certain examples of the reproduction of Alevism have accomodated to a version of Alevism which might be delineated as “acceptable” with respect to the conditions imposed by the dominant discourse on religion. This thesis also examines the two kinds of politics of recognition within the Alevi movement as represented by the Alevi Bektashi Federation and the Alevi Foundations Federation. Besides, these organizations are analyzed in terms of their priorities, self-definition of their institutions, their views about the Alevis’ demands and about the implementation of laicism in Turkey.|Keywords: Alevism, politics of recognition, Alevi Bektashi Federation, Alevi Foundations Federation, AKP, laicism.
An analysis of the institutionalization of the self-management in Yugoslav economic system
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 1986., 1986.) Süloğlu, Ayşe Güvenç.
An evaluation and an analysis of the 1974 constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 1985., 1985.) Akbulut, Hakan Gürsel.; Öke, Kemal,
An evaluation of European monetary union in its fifth year
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2004., 2004.) Ünlü, Cenk.; Sosay, Gül.
This master thesis re-evaluates the costs and benefits of the EMU from a broader perspective in the light of the performance of EMU. This study tries to reveal the answers to two major questions. One: Is entering the EMU an economically rational choice?, whilst the other question is Did the EMU perform in line with expectations?. In order to reach the answers I briefly outline the history of the EMU and try to analyze all the aspects of costs and benefits of EMU. In addition to this, I examine the Euro area from the perspective of Optimum Currency Area Theory. Finally, I investigate the macro-economic performance of Euro area, I apply paired t-test and non-parametric Wilcoxon tests in order to test the performance of EMU member countries before and after the EMU (for the period 1994-2003). My findings reveal that entering EMU brings marginal benefits compared to the risks that it brings. In addition to this, EMU has not brought increased price stability, nor has it boosted growth, employment and intra-trade figures in the Euro zone. The rationale of EMU can only be understood if political motives are taken into account.
An evaluation of the emergence of nonalignment in the context of Indian and Yugoslav foreign policies
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 1986., 1986.) Özcan, Gencer.; Gök, Mehmet.
Between anxiety and hope :|the ebb and flow of prefigurative politics after Gezi Protests
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022.) Yumuk, Fahir.; Arslanalp, Mert.
This thesis traces one of the enduring legacies of the Gezi Protests, prefigurative politics. Defined as a set of political actions that seeks to realize now the social relations that are aspired to be experienced in the future, the concept has come to be one of the defining characteristics of the global mass mobilizations in the twenty first century. Although it is possible to point out various remarkable prefigurative political actions throughout the 2000s, it was only after Gezi Protests that prefigurative politics received broader reception and propagation in Turkey. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with various prefigurative politics in Istanbul, this research focuses on the affective micro-dynamics behind the prefigurative experiences within the park and their multiplication into different sites. I argue that prefigurative practices provide certain mechanisms for the production and reproduction of a set of shared feelings that arose in the park, emboldening activists to undertake and sustain their political actions. While these mechanisms have been influential in terms of the initial drive for the proliferation of prefigurative politics right after Gezi Protests, I imply that their effects may have also been important for their sustenance despite the limitations related to the increasing authoritarianism. In that regard, in the last chapter, I focus on a specific case, Kadıköy Cooperative, to discuss how this initial drive has developed into an enduring institutional legacy. After all, I argue that this legacy indicates an emergent subjectivity that developed around the fundamental tenets of prefiguration, self-reflection, and solidarity that seeks to settle itself through a horizontal constitutional order.
Beyond limits :|the mobilization of a wildcat strike in Turkey
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2019., 2019.) Gökçek, Alican Çağrı.; Akan, Murat.
With the increasing poverty and rising social injustice in Turkey, the working class’ grievances have recently become more visible in the public. In this sense, Turkish society witnessed one of the most disruptive and crowded labor strikes during the neoliberal capitalist era in 2015. During these strikes, metal workers mainly targeted the hegemonic partnership of employers and pro-employer trade union, Turkish Metal Union (TM). Both the rising poverty in the social and economic conditions of workers and the untenable forms of practices by the hegemonic partners led workers to rely on their own power and go on a wildcat strike. In this paper, I tried to search for possible answers to two basic questions about this strike wave. First, the nature of crisis which precipitated this mass action and the nature of these strikes were important issues to identify. Second, the influence of the metal workers’ movement led me to think about what this contentious action might bring to social movement theories. For reaching these research intentions, I followed a qualitative method and heavily relied on semi-structured interviews conducted with defiant workers. In addition to those interviews, I also used media news, statistical data, and elite interviews with union officers, union representatives, and labor activists. Essentially, this research should be considered more than a case study to the extent that it tries to look at what the strike wave tell us for developing a more reliable and replicable social movement theory for the future studies.
Bringing agency back In: the case of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Istanbu
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Mardesic, Sonja.; Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep.
In this thesis, I analyze the role of agency and structure in the migration process of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Istanbul, including their decision to leave their country of origin, their decision to come to Turkey and their experience as foreigners in Istanbul. The research is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with Sub-Saharan African refugees and asylum seekers, students and other migrants focusing on their choices, experiences and strategies. It also includes participant observation in public and private spaces where migrants gather, informal interviews and the study of secondary literature exploring the legal framework and background of migration to Turkey. Using the structuration conceptual framework, I argue that structural forces, including economy, politics, legislation and culture, are a set of resources and obstacles that influence migrants’ choices and experiences. However, migrants do not react automatically to structural stimuli. Rather, they should be considered as knowledgeable agents who reflect on their environment and develop coping and advancement strategies while always keeping a certain degree of control over those structures. Furthermore, I argue that through their agency, migrants contribute to the change and reproduction of structural forces.
China’s shifting position in the global climate change
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2023., 2022) Elmalı, Burak.; Eder, Mine, 1965- .
Over the past two decades, China has emerged as a rising economic power with excessive amounts of carbon emissions that directly contribute to global climate change. Being a part of the international regime for global climate change regime, the country has also pursued a different set of policies to address the issue both domestically and internationally. This is also apparent in China’s vast investment landscape. The country has shown shifting patterns from a fossil-oriented investor to a more climate-friendly one. Also, it has proactively engaged in the regime's institutional platforms and revealed strong signals to cooperate on this global issue. This thesis aims to answer why China decided to move in such a direction and showed shifts in its investment allocation preferences by contextualizing foreign investments between 2005 and 2022. In contrast to the arguments based on liberal institutionalism and regime theory, China’s moves can be better attributed to realist considerations and strategic calculations within the scope of its incentive structure. This consists of economic gains and reputational benefits, both of which led China to increase its relative gains and reduce international pressures. From energy and transport investments to positioning in international negotiations, several cases are presented to demonstrate how China operationalizes its incentive structure. Combining climate change with some prominent international relations theories, this thesis contributes to an interest- based understanding of China’s climate policies and places them into a broader context of an incentive structure framework.
Citizenship ambiguity in unrecognized states :|the case of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2020., 2020.) Kesbiç, Kayıhan Nedim.; Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (the TRNC) has received a significant number of Turkish migrants after Turkey’s military intervention to Cyprus in 1974. However, academic research, so far, is unable to explain why some Turkish migrants try to acquire the citizenship of the TRNC, and with what kind of experiences these migrants encounter during citizenship application. The thesis seeks to fill this academic void by explaining the citizenship trajectory of Turkish migrants in northern Cyprus. Despite being an unrecognized state at the international level, the thesis argues that the citizenship status of the TRNC means a lot to Turkish migrants with the privileges and rights it offers at the domestic level. In addition, contrary to the widespread belief, Turkish migrants’ access to TRNC citizenship is not taken for granted. The citizenship regime of the TRNC is an ambiguous legal procedure in which Turkish Cypriot authorities employ different citizenship acquisition methods in order to delay and hinder the citizenship acquisition of some people while prioritizing others’ access to citizenship. The thesis will unpack the citizenship acquisition process in northern Cyprus by explaining the legal citizenship regime as well as elaborating on the experiences of Turkish migrants on the island.
Citizenship and identity in Turkey: the case of the post-1980 Turkish-muslim immigrants from Macedonia
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute of Social Sciences, 2006., 2006.) Beltan, Sude Bahar.; Arat, Yeşim,
This study traces the relationship between citizenship and identity in Turkey through analyzing the narratives and experiences of the post-1980 Turkish-Muslimimmigrants from Macedonia. It inquires the ways in which the immigrants define their identity, rationalize their migration to Turkey, make their claims to citizenship, andnarrate their interactions with the locals.The research reveals that the Turkish-Muslim immigrants from Macedonia have migrated to Turkey and have made a claim to citizenship on the grounds that they are Turks and Muslims, and that Turkey is their original "homeland". Yet, even though being Turkish and Muslim end up constituting the basic parameters of citizenship in Turkey above and beyond the claims of "civic citizenship", paradoxically these two parameters define the very grounds on which these immigrants are marginalized in Turkey. They are treated as "foreigners" because for the local population, they are "converts to Islam", even "infidels" ("gavurs") and are not Turks but "Albanians". In response to this, it is argued that the immigrants ironically respond within the same essentialist paradigm by "re-articulating" their ethnic and religious identity along "genuineness" as "pure" and "unmixed" and positing it in contrast to an "impure" and "mixed" identity that the locals hold both in ethnic and religious terms. Moreover, the immigrants emphasize their "European" experience and identity in order to differentiate themselves from the locals. Therefore it is argued that in the self-narratives of the immigrants, there is a double and paradoxical process of articulation and construction ofidentity through sameness with and difference from the locals simultaneously. Revealing the contestations over the definitions of "genuine" Turkishness andMuslimness between the immigrants and the locals; this thesis argues that Turkishness and Muslimness that are constructed and articulated on "genuineness" are the main points of reference in the definition and the imaginary of the "proper citizen" within thenarratives of the immigrants as well as in the reactions of the locals in Turkey.
Civil society and democracy: the case of a migrant association
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2006., 2006.) Demirkaya, Betül.; Arat, Yeşim,
This thesis aims to discuss the relationship between civil society and democracy by examining the case of a migrant association in Istanbul founded by people comingfrom a town in the Black Sea region. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore how and to what extent the association promotes or undermines broader and deeper political participation, the exercise of civil rights, socio-economic equality and theenjoyment of cultural differences. Although the membership is based on an inheritedcharacteristic, i.e. hometown, the association differs from traditional communities in that it is justified on the basis of sharing common cultural elements rather thancoming from a common lineage. The common hometown also functions as aninstrument in the generation of resources and power. The prospects for thecontribution of the association to democracy are analyzed by looking at the opportunities for the articulation of demands, the economic empowerment of its , members, the representation of differences and the cultivation of democratic valuesamong its members. Moreover, potential problems are also considered such asreproduction of inequalities through exclusion of non-members, maintenance of unequal power relations within the association, limitation of individual freedom of its members, promotion of undemocratic values and possibility for rent-seeking activities. The problems are argued to emerge and exacerbate depending on thedegree of dependency of its members on the association, and the lack of a issuebased perspective and institutionalized relations within the association.
Civil society participation and weak institutions :|the case of urban expansion in Istanbul
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2020., 2020.) Kutlu Karasu, Rabia.; Eder, Mine,
Istanbul has experienced a multifaceted transformation between 2009 and 2019 with the introduction of various urban megaprojects. During this period, the urban expansion through the northern parts of the city has accelerated with the introduction of three megaprojects, i.e., the 3rd Bridge and the North Marmara Highway projects, the 3rd Airport project, and the Canal Istanbul project. This led to tensions between the state and the civil society over the top-down decision-making processes, the possible environmental costs of the projects, and the fate of the Northern Forests in Istanbul. Analyzing the period between 2009 and 2019, this thesis seeks answer to the question how the participatory prospects of environmental civil society organizations (CSOs) in the environmental governance of Istanbul has changed and what are implications of this change on the rise of the informal environmental movement organizations (EMOs) in the city. This thesis utilizes the data conducted from semi-structured interviews with the members of CSOs and extended document research. Based on this data, this thesis concluded that the civil society actors have experienced unprecedented difficulties in trying to reach the decision-making processes in the case of this three megaprojects because of the increasing weaknesses of formal participatory institutions. The institutional gridlocks they encountered have changed their capacities and strategies as well as encouraged the pursuit of political participation through more contentious forms of mobilization.
Class underground, class aboveground: Zonguldak mineworkers and their unions
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009., 2009.) Kaya, Yasin.; Eder, Mine,
This research is on the objective and subjective determinants of the Zonguldak mineworkers’ and their union’s power. It has three parts: First, it studies the effect of the structural and institutional forces functioning in global and national scale on the workplace and marketplace power of miners in the local context of Zonguldak. For this purpose, the evolution of the state-capital relations is studied through historical lenses with a specific emphasis on post-1980 era. Second, it inquires the mineworkers’ union’s organizational structure and strategies to analyze the grounds of mineworkers’ associational power. For this reason, it analyzes the historical development the union’s relation to its member base, the legal universe, TÜRK-İŞ and inter-party relations in Turkey. Third, it looks into the mineworkers’ perceptions questioning how they make meaning of the structural, institutional and ideological dynamics taking place in global, national and local levels that effect on their union and themselves; and how they conceptualize possible responses to such dynamics. Through this, it reflects on how mineworkers perceptions inform and be informed by the capacity of their union. The ultimate aim of this study is to underscore the necessity of dual approach to working class. It recommends studying it as an objective structural position in the relations of production that is shaped in its interplay with the state and capital; and as a subjective cultural formation that is constituted by workers’ experiences, practices, attitudes, beliefs, consciousnesses, and perceptions.
Clear-air turbulence: incessant regulation of deregulation in international civil aviation
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Sönmezgil, Serkan.; Aksoy, Zühre.
International civil aviation consists of an intricate web of private and public parties. The national sovereignty on air space puts constraints on market forces. Particularly between the end of World War II and the late seventies, considerable regulations on international commercial air services were in force. These regulations resided at the core of the multilateral framework that had deliberately left loopholes from which mushrooming bilateral interactions escaped and undermined its main tenets. International civil aviation remains as an understudied issue for international relations discipline. This study unravels the conflictual coexistence of regulatory and deregulatory currents from a theoretical outlook developed from within international relations theory. Accordingly, focal points of this study, within the time scope of the Chicago Conference of 1944 to the Bermuda II Agreement of 1977 are the U.K-U.S. aviation rivalry, to be traced on the axis of regulation and deregulation and ICAO's role within and engagement with this axis. Merits of an eclecticist insight were evaluated in analyzing these cases via critical theoretical appropriations of variants of realist thinking, regime theory and security studies. The main results of the analyses are that the shifts in level of regulation could be explained with reference to differing public and private power structures of U.K. and U.S. and that ICAO as a regime rests on contrastingly ambiguous genetic roots that paved the way for its lagging behind as concretized in its interference with issues of regulation and deregulation.

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