Description
What role does Turkey play in Kuwait's sub-regional and regional power projection? This is the key question that this research will examine in respect with these states potential role in supporting proposed guideline by Our Common Agenda. Although the challenges at the domestic, the sub-regional, the regional and the global level are complex and multidimensional, yet Kuwait’s and Turkey’s foreign policy strategies are improving to promote their power projection.
This paper will have three purposes. The first one is to examine Turkey’s role in Kuwait’s power projection. Kuwait-Turkey relations has been in a steady and balanced relationship but high-level visits and multilateral cooperation have been increasing since the AK Party re-oriented its foreign policy. Kuwait and Turkey's policy making in the wake of the Arab uprisings and the Qatar crisis of 2017 had a logic of equivalence rather than of differences. Due to the Arab Uprisings, the regional atmosphere has changed dramatically, and Turkey and Kuwait have both logic of equivalence and differences in their perceived roles.
Secondly, the paper will answer the question of do Kuwait-Turkey relations impact the parties' regional policies in a new way? In other words, in what ways does the consolidation of relations in these agents' regional roles benefit them? In order to answer these agent-structure questions comprehensively, the paper will use the Role theory's approach to the national role in systems and in the agent-structure relationships (Holsti, 1970; Backman, 1970; Harnish et al, 2011; Kaarbo, 2015; Candir & Kaarbo, 2016; Ozdamar, 2016). In particular, the concepts of "regional subsystem collaborator" refer to "a state's commitment to build regional systems of cooperation and to cooperative efforts with other states to build wider communities or crosscutting subsystems" (Ozdamar, 2016, p. 91). A question arises at this stage: Do these bilateral ties serve as regional subsystem collaborations? In what ways do these states have unique roles to play within the Middle East system and the GCC sub-system that benefit from bilateral ties? While conceptualizing their foreign policy making towards each other, the research could discuss "role conflict" (Harnisch, 2011) and "role change" (Breuning 1995; Thies 2010). Third purpose of the research is to examine the role of these bilateral relations in addressing the issues raised by the UN Secretary-General. These agents' regional roles and their bilateral ties will be examined especially in three proposed titles, promoting peace and preventing conflicts, building trust, and boosting partnerships, that are relevant to Kuwait-Turkey relations.
The Iranian nuclear program and JCPOA, normalizing relations with Israel, Syria and Yemen civil wars, political changes in Egypt and the role of the Ikhwan in regional politics, the Qatar crisis of 2017, and Turkey's involvement in Iraq and Syria are among the issues that can be categorized under the new and traditional roles of both states in regional politics. Kuwait's power projection under the 2035 vision and Turkey's domestic tensions contribute to shaping the states' role in bilateral relations and their projection of power. Neither of these factors has been addressed by any scholarly research. In Kuwait-Turkey relations, there is only one written work in Turkish that relates the impact of the Ottoman background on bilateral relations (Ayhan, 2009). In spite of the need for scholarly attention, the academic literature focuses mainly on Turkey's relationship with Qatar and historically more dominant relations with Saudi Arabia rather than its relationship with sub-regional policies.
Consequently, the this study will fulfill a valid gap in the literature regarding Turkish-Kuwaiti relations. In doing this, the research will combine the agendas of two states, rather than focusing exclusively on the Turkish or Kuwaiti approach. Methodologically, focusing on ties rather than one single facet of policy making is based on the conceptual discussion of national role (Holsti, 1970; Cantir & Kaarbo, 2016; Ozdamar, 2016) and pursuit of power (Laclau & Mouffe, 2014).
