SAM Papers The United Nations Peace Operations and Motivations at the Roots of Turkey’s Involvement

Papers

July 1, 2015

This policy brief studies the evolution of United Nations peace operations and aims at analyzing the motivations that lie at the root of Turkey’s involvement in peace operations, mostly organized under the leadership of the United Nations in the post-Cold War era. The brief puts forth the argument that participation in such operations has been an identity-constructing activity in the sense that Turkey has, through this particular way, tried to reinforce its eroding western identity in the 1990s. This brief also discusses alternative motivations behind Turkey’s involvement in peace operations, such as security-related considerations in a neo-realist vein and domestic influence of ethnic and religious pressure groups, but argues that these accounts fall short of offering convincing explanations.

SAM Papers The United Nations Peace Operations and Motivations at the Roots of Turkey’s Involvement

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