Methodological Nationalism and the Study of Foreign Policy in Turkey

Abstract

Methodological nationalism, while defined as imagining and studying a humanity consisting of nations that organizes itself as nation-states, poses a problem for academia with consequences for the entire social sciences. It has long been discussed and debated in the fields of sociology, anthropology and history and people have often sought to unfold the reasons and constitutive consequences of such research misconduct. Methodological nationalism has also been debated in International Relations (IR), yet debates remained limited to methodological nationalisms relevance to the debates on the future of IR . In the study of foreign policy, however, almost no studies have been conducted problematizing methodological nationalism. This study is thus an attempt to unfold the common practices of methodological nationalism in and their consequences for foreign policy research, in the case of the study of foreign policy in Turkey.

Keywords

Methodological nationalism, foreign policy research, Turkish foreign policy.

Citation

Tabak, Hüsrev, “Methodological Nationalism and the Study of Foreign Policy in Turkey”, International Relations, Volume 13, Issue 51, 2016, pp. 21-39.

Affiliations

• Hüsrev TABAK, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Department of International Relations, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University