A Dance of Entanglement: The US-Turkish Relations in the Context of the Syrian Conflict

Abstract

Alliances under unipolarity operate with different logic than under bipolarity. Unipolarity makes the twin dangers of abandonment and entrapment more likely for the weaker states that need the unipole for the pursuit of their regional security interests. The article takes the US-Turkish relations within the context of Syrian conflict as exemplary and shows how the strategic discrepancies between the US-Turkish positions paved the way for Turkey’s abandonment in Syria. The article concludes that the unipole’s strategic alliance commitments are no longer reliable for regional allies to assume risky regional restructuring roles as they face the risk of abandonment on the halfway.

Keywords

Alliances, Unipolarity, the US, Turkey, Syria

Citation

Sarı Karademir, Burcu, “A Dance of Entanglement: The US-Turkish Relations in the Context of the Syrian Conflict”, Uluslararasi Iliskiler, Vol. 16, No. 62, 2019, pp. 27-43, DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.588897

Affiliations

• Burcu SARI KARADEMİR, PhD and Part-time Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Bilkent University