SAM Papers A Dictionary of Turkish Foreign Policy in the AK Party Era: A Conceptual Map

This study aims to describe the foreign policy discourses and practices which have seen wide use in the era of the Justice and Development Party (the AK Party). Given the fact that concepts do not emerge independently of their historical context, this study argues that the AK Party government’s foreign policy can be analyzed through the dominant concepts that have been used. The study also argues that what is “new” in the AK Party’s foreign policy can be understood by looking at the new concepts and conceptual changes that have occurred in that era. One of the foundational objectives of the study is to outline Turkish foreign policy in the AK Party era by bringing together pertinent concepts and assembling a dictionary of these concepts. Most of the concepts in this study have been defined in the way that they have been used by foreign policy makers, independent of their academic meanings. Lastly, this study has not ordered the concepts in any way to give special meaning or to show importance.