Description
Abstract:
This paper explores Türkiye’s middle power diplomacy through the analytical frameworks of strategic autonomy, soft power, and agency in International Relations, elucidating how middle powers navigate a global order characterized by great power rivalries. Türkiye represents a particularly interesting case, as it demonstrates that middle powers can exercise meaningful agency, simultaneously advancing normative objectives, cultivating regional and global influence, and leveraging soft power, thereby challenging conventional IR conceptions that depict such actors as peripheral or constrained.
Empirically, the paper examines Türkiye’s engagement with the United Nations, regional organizations, and international development initiatives, complemented by cultural diplomacy instruments such as media, educational exchanges, and humanitarian assistance. Türkiye’s provision of humanitarian aid to African and Asian states, encompassing disaster relief, medical support, and capacity-building initiatives, exemplifies its strategic use of soft power to consolidate legitimacy and influence. Moreover, Türkiye’s diplomatic engagement with major powers including Russia and China underscores its capacity to negotiate agency and maintain strategic autonomy within complex geostrategic environments.
By integrating theoretical perspectives with empirical analysis, the paper contends that Türkiye exemplifies an innovative model of middle power diplomacy, wherein soft power and multilateral engagement converge to enable agenda-setting and norm-shaping. The paper contributes to broader debates concerning strategic autonomy, middle power agency, and the evolving dynamics of global governance.
Keywords: Middle power diplomacy, Türkiye, soft power, strategic autonomy, multilateralism, humanitarian aid, global governance
