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The study explored when, under what conditions, and to what extent did European integration, particularly the European Union’s requirement for democratic conditionality, contribute to democratic consolidation in Spain, Poland, and Turkey? On the basis of a four-part definition, the dissertation examined the democratizing impact of European integration process on each of the following four components of consolidation: (i) holding of fair, free and competitive elections, (ii) protection of fundamental rights, including human and minority rights, (iii) high prospects of regime survival and civilian control of the military, and (iv) legitimacy, elite consensus, and stateness. To assess the relative significance of EU’s democratizing leverage, the thesis also examined domestic and non-EU international dynamics of democratic consolidation in the three countries.By employing two qualitative methods (case study and process-tracing), the study focused on three specific time frames: 1977-1986 for Spain, 1994-2004 for Poland, and 1999-present for Turkey. In addition to official documents, newspapers, and secondary sources, face-to-face interviews made with politicians, academics, experts, bureaucrats, and journalists in the three countries were utilized.The thesis generated several conclusions. First of all, the EU’s democratizing impact is not uniform across different components of democratic consolidation. Moreover, the EU’s democratizing leverage in Spain, Poland, and Turkey involved variations over time for three major reasons: (i) the changing nature of EU’s democratic conditionality over time (ii) varying levels of the EU’s credible commitment to the candidate country’s prospect for membership, and (iii) domestic dynamics in the candidate countries. Furthermore, the European integration process favors democratic consolidation but its magnitude is shaped by the candidate country’s prospect for EU membership and domestic factors in the candidate country. Finally, the study involves a major policy implication for the European Union: unless the EU provides a clear prospect for membership, its democratizing leverage will be limited in the candidate countries.

WOS:000390796800013 Güvenlik çalışmaları Soğuk Savaş’ın sona ermesinden sonraki dönemde giderek genişleyen bir günde­me sahip olmuştur. Bu makalede genişleyen güvenlik gündeminde yer alan insani güvenlik kavramı bağlamında çevresel güvenlik konusu incelenecektir. Çalışma öncelikle insani güvenlik kavramının ne zaman ortaya çıktığını ve farklı insanı güvenlik tanımlarından bahsetmektedir. 1994 yılı Birleşmiş Milletler Kalkınma Raporu insani güvenlik kavramının ortaya çıkışı açısından dönüm noktası olurken, tanımlar arasında iki tanesi ağırlık kazanmıştır. Geniş tanımlamada yoksulluk ve kalkınma temel dinamikler olarak alınırken dar insani güvenlik tanımlamasında fiziki şiddetin kullanılması baz olarak alınmıştır. Öte yandan, insani güvenlik etrafındaki tartışmaların önemli ölçüde normatif ve kuramsal boyutlara sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Bu sebeple makale başlıca uluslararası ilişkiler teorilerinin in­sani güvenlik olgusuna nasıl baktıklarına da yer vermektedir. Realist teoriler insani güvenlik kavramı ile ilgilenmezken liberal, inşacı ve eleştirel kuramların insani güvenlik olgusu ile ilgili oldukları görül­mektedir. Çalışmanın daha sonraki bölümü başta küresel ısınma olmak üzere çeşitli çevre sorunlarının insani güvenlik ve devletlerarası ilişkiler açısından nasıl tehlike oluşturduklarını analiz etmektedir. Bu bağlamda önemli bir konu çevresel güvensizlik ya da çevre felaketlerinden kaynaklanan devlet içi ve uluslararası göçlerin devletlerin istikrarını bozabilecek olması ve devletlerarası çatışmalara yol açabilme­sidir. Çevresel güvenlik sorunları Darfur ve Suriye’de olduğu gibi sıcak çatışmaların ortaya çıkmasında önemli bir etkiye sahip olabilmektedirler. Çalışmanın sonuç kısmı, insani güvenlik ve çevresel güvenlik kavramlarının güvenlik çalışmaları alanındaki potansiyeli ve sınırlılıklarına dair çeşitli öneri ve eleşti­rilere yer vermektedir. Security studies have involved a widening extent of agenda in the period following the end of the Cold War. This article will discuss environmental security in the context of human security concept. In doing so, the study first discusses when human security notion has emerged and how different definitions of human security have risen. While the 1994 UN Human Development Report was a milestone document in the rise of human security phenomenon, two major definitions of human security have earned utmost attention. The broad definition has taken poverty and development as reference points while the narrow definition has considered the use of physical force as the fundamental dynamic to define human security Moreover, debates around human security concept have involved to a great extent normative and theoretical dimensions. For this reason, the paper also examines major theories of international relations in regard to their relevance for and position against human security phenomenon. Overall, realist theories have a skeptical approach while liberal, constructivist and critical IR theories consider human security as an important phenomenon in the realm of security studies. Thereafter, the paper analyzes how various environmental problems, particularly climate change, pose threats for human security and inter-state relations. In this regard, domestic and international migration arising from environmental catastrophes could result in domestic instabilities for states and lead to inter-state conflicts. Environmental insecurities also have potential for triggering hot conflicts such as happened in Darfur and Syria. In the concluding part, several suggestions and criticisms take place in regard to human security, environmental security and their potential and limits in the realm of security studies.

Transnational activism has become increasingly salient dynamics of world politics in several issue areas including human rights, environment, development, women‟s rights, and peace. The article first assesses how major International Relations theories look at them. While realist theories do not take them seriously, constructivism and sociological institutionalism underline the fact that transnational actors can matter in world politics. An important component of this study is that it assesses when, how, and under what conditions transnational actors can matter in international relations. Finally, the study examines areas in which transnational actors pose challenges for state-centric Westphalian international system while suggesting that they also suffer from notable limitations. In the end, the article calls for the existence of opportunities for further research, Ulusaşırı eylemcilik son dönem dünya siyasetinin birçok alanında (insan hakları, çevre, kadın hakları,kalkınma ve barış vb.) giderek ivme kazanan bir dinamik haline gelmiştir. Bu çalışma öncelikle bellibaşlı uluslararası ilişkiler teorilerinin ulusaşırı eylemciliğe nasıl baktığını değerlendirmektedir. Realistteoriler bu aktörlerin etkinliği konusuna şüphe ile yaklaşırken inşacı ve sosyolojik kurumsalcı yaklaşımlarulusaşırı aktörlerin dünya siyasetinde etkin bir rol alabileceklerine destek vermektedirler. Makaleninönemli kısmını ulusaşırı aktörlerin ne zaman, nasıl ve hangi koşullarda uluslararası ilişkilerin kayda değerbir unsuru olabileceklerine dair olan tartışma oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma, ulusaşırı aktörlerin devlet merkezli Vestfalyan uluslararası sisteme meydan okuduklarını belirtirken bu aktörlerin aynı zamanda önemlieksiklikler içerdiğini iddia etmektedir. Nihai olarak çalışma, ulusaşırı eylemcilik/aktör konusunun uluslararası ilişkiler araştırmacıları için önemli fırsatlar sunduğunu savunmaktadır.

This paper examines Turkey's relations with the European Union from December 1997 to December 2004 to understand the major dynamics behind the recent democratization and human rights reforms in Turkey. For this purpose, the study focuses on three factors: (1) the impact of EU, particularly the Copenhagen conditionality (2) the government structure (coalition vs. majority government) (3) the governing party's/parties' commitment level to the EU membership goal. The comparison across three periods of Turkey-EU relations (1997-1999, 1999-2002, 2002-2004) makes it possible to identify the relative significance of each factor for the reforms. In combining the international and domestic origins of Turkey's political reforms, the paper emphasizes the central importance of the domestic-international linkages for theoretical and policy purposes.The study uses (comparative) case study method to observe whether the theoretical framework proposed in this paper successfully applies to the cases. A temporal comparison across the three different periods of Turkey-EU relations is expected to show the relative salience of each explanatory factor to understand the development of Turkey's democratization and human rights reforms. In doing so, the paper looks at how EU conditionality has affected the Turkish political elite (government and parties) in realizing the reforms. In other words, how the Turkish elite have taken EU conditionality into account in handling the reforms. For this purpose, the study uses the statements made by prime ministers, party leaders, and the members of parliament. Also, it draws on the European Council decisions, and the European Commission reports. To measure the explanatory factors and the dependent variable, the following sources will be utilized: the EU harmonization law packages, the adoption of civil and penal code, the constitutional amendments, the establishment of new institutions regarding the EU membership process, the statements by Turkish officials, the Commission reports, the views of Turkish columnists, party programs, government programs, Turkey's National Program for the adoption of EU acquis, and the Freedom House ratings for civil liberties and political rights.

The democratization literature discusses various dynamics of regime change including economic development, social classes, political institutions, political culture and international factors. By examining business behavior in different temporal and spatial contexts, the article expects to enhance our understanding of social dynamics of democratization. This study examines the role of business in political change in Brazil and Argentina. The Brazilian case involves temporal comparisons across the 1961-1964 Goulart period, the 1964-1985 military regime, and the New Republic (1985-1990) The Argentine case, on the other hand, includes three periods: the 1976 coup, 1976-1983 military regime and the post-1983 transition to democracy. This article argues that business, as a pragmatic actor, is a contingent democrat. It could be supporter of both democracy and authoritarian rule on the basis of their interest considerations.

One of the most significant developments in the twenty-century world politics has been the foundation of European Community (EC), and its evolution into the European Union (EU). Now, the EU is a supranational entity that is composed of twenty-five member states while it will be twenty-seven with the membership of Bulgaria and Romania in January 2007. The EU poses great challenges for both the policy and academic world. On one hand, the EU has become a powerful international actor in the current international politics. On the other hand, the academic world needs to explain the genesis and development of European integration. Is the European Union a unique case in world politics? What are the causes of integration? Why and how did Europeans achieve to establish such an institution that facilitates international cooperation? To what extent do European nation states have power vis-a-vis the EU, in other words, what is the relative power of the EU vis-a-vis the member states? These are some of the major questions concerning the EU. Theories of European integration such as intergovernmentalism and supranationalism deal with these questions. Moreover, theories of International Relations (IR) are also concerned with these issues.