Description
Although populism can be defined as a political practice, a discursive strategy, or an ideology, it is mainly connected to domestic politics in mainstream research. There are only a few examples of evidence-based analysis of the populism-foreign policy nexus. Exceptionally scarce are investigations on how populist elements are involved in different Middle Eastern actors’ political and discursive practices.
For a case study of the populism-foreign policy nexus, the rhetoric of the Turkish government after the break of relations with the Syrian government in the Autumn of 2011 will be analyzed. The subsequent period is exciting as it witnesses the recalibration of the theoretical foundations of Turkish foreign policy towards Syria. These issues are connected to the general question of how Turkish foreign policy resolved the dilemma between values (democracy, human rights) and interests (influence, pragmatic bilateral relations)? The research aims to present a detailed analysis of the rhetorical campaign in Turkey concerning the first year of the Syrian crisis. Analyses of the populism-foreign policy nexus tend to explain longer processes and phenomena; instead, this paper will pay attention to the close reading of the foreign policy discourse of Ankara until around mid-2012.
