My research focuses on foreign policy, emerging powers and international cooperation with specific reference to Turkish foreign policy and the international relations of the Middle East. I am particularly interested in examining emerging power engagements with international politics.
At LSE IDEAS, I lead the Turkish foreign policy research programme supported by LSE Global South Unit and the LSE’s Research Infrastructure and Investment Fund. At UCL, I am a Research Collaborator of the UCL Global Governance Institute and the UCL Conflict & Change.
My book, Turkey, the EU and the Middle East: Foreign Policy Cooperation and the Arab Uprisings (Routledge Studies in Foreign Policy Analysis, 2020) examines Turkish foreign policy decision-making processes regarding cooperation with the EU during the Arab uprisings and is based on field research involving interviews with diplomats and policy makers at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the European Commission.
My latest research projects examine the role of ideational factors in guiding foreign policy formulations, the concept of agency in emerging power engagement with sub-Saharan Africa, and conflict and cooperation in the Middle East.
10 entries « ‹ 1 of 2
› » 2023
Süsler, Buğra
Is Turkey Serious About Its Recent Criticism of China? Online
Project, China Global South (Ed.): 2023, visited: 10.02.2023.
@online{nokey,
title = {Is Turkey Serious About Its Recent Criticism of China?},
author = {Buğra Süsler
},
editor = {China Global South Project},
url = {https://chinaglobalsouth.com/analysis/is-turkey-serious-about-its-recent-criticism-of-china/},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-02-10},
urldate = {2023-02-10},
howpublished = {Chına Global South Project},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {online}
}
2022
Süsler, Buğra; Alden, Chris
Turkey and African Agency: The Role of Islam and Commercialism in Turkey's Africa Policy Journal Article
In: The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 60, iss. 4, pp. 597-617, 2022.
@article{nokey,
title = {Turkey and African Agency: The Role of Islam and Commercialism in Turkey's Africa Policy},
author = {Buğra Süsler and Chris Alden},
doi = {10.1017/S0022278X22000349},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-12-31},
urldate = {2022-12-31},
journal = {The Journal of Modern African Studies},
volume = {60},
issue = {4},
pages = {597-617},
abstract = {The concept of ‘agency’ and its role in capturing the dynamics between Africa and external actors feature increasingly in the African IR scholarship. Over the past decade, Turkey has become an increasingly prominent actor in Africa, strengthening political, cultural and economic ties with African states and providing humanitarian aid and development assistance. In this paper, we examine Turkey's relationship with Africa from the point of view of African agency and ask ‘How much and what kind of agency can we identify by examining the way in which Turkey approaches African states?’ The conventional understanding of the concept of African agency defines it in materialist terms and emphasises its transactional nature; it does not adequately explain incidents of enhanced outcomes for Africans in their relationship with Turkey. We argue that an under-examined aspect and a vital source of African agency lies within the discourses of Turkish policy which provide an enabling source of policy space for negotiation for Africans. We demonstrate that the notion of Muslim kinship in Turkish discourses not only distinguishes Turkey from most of the other external powers engaging with the continent but also enables African interlocutors to negotiate enhanced outcomes.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The concept of ‘agency’ and its role in capturing the dynamics between Africa and external actors feature increasingly in the African IR scholarship. Over the past decade, Turkey has become an increasingly prominent actor in Africa, strengthening political, cultural and economic ties with African states and providing humanitarian aid and development assistance. In this paper, we examine Turkey's relationship with Africa from the point of view of African agency and ask ‘How much and what kind of agency can we identify by examining the way in which Turkey approaches African states?’ The conventional understanding of the concept of African agency defines it in materialist terms and emphasises its transactional nature; it does not adequately explain incidents of enhanced outcomes for Africans in their relationship with Turkey. We argue that an under-examined aspect and a vital source of African agency lies within the discourses of Turkish policy which provide an enabling source of policy space for negotiation for Africans. We demonstrate that the notion of Muslim kinship in Turkish discourses not only distinguishes Turkey from most of the other external powers engaging with the continent but also enables African interlocutors to negotiate enhanced outcomes.
Süsler, Buğra
Turkey’s Involvement in the Libyan Conflict, the Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean and Drone Warfare Journal Article
In: LSE IDEAS Special Report, 2022.
@article{nokey,
title = {Turkey’s Involvement in the Libyan Conflict, the Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean and Drone Warfare},
author = {Buğra Süsler},
url = {https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/Assets/Documents/updates/2022-SU-SuslerTurkeyLibya-01a.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-31},
urldate = {2022-08-31},
journal = {LSE IDEAS Special Report},
address = {London},
abstract = {Dr Buğra Süsler’s Strategic Update explains Turkish foreign policy-making around a fragile Libya, highlighting its impact on power dynamics in the North Africa and the Middle East, as well as opening a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa. The paper addresses Turkey’s regional economic and political motives, the AKP’s increasingly hawkish use of hard power—especially the diplomatic and ethical implications of the Turkish military’s specialisation in drone warfare—and Ankara’s desire to maintain mutually beneficial relations with Libyan power-brokers key to post-civil war reconstruction.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Dr Buğra Süsler’s Strategic Update explains Turkish foreign policy-making around a fragile Libya, highlighting its impact on power dynamics in the North Africa and the Middle East, as well as opening a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa. The paper addresses Turkey’s regional economic and political motives, the AKP’s increasingly hawkish use of hard power—especially the diplomatic and ethical implications of the Turkish military’s specialisation in drone warfare—and Ankara’s desire to maintain mutually beneficial relations with Libyan power-brokers key to post-civil war reconstruction.
2020
Pegram, Tom; Süsler, Buğra
The Virus and the Machine: Why We Need to Talk About Global AI Governance Online
Institute, UCL Global Governance (Ed.): 2020, visited: 27.07.2020.
@online{nokey,
title = {The Virus and the Machine: Why We Need to Talk About Global AI Governance},
author = {Tom Pegram and Buğra Süsler},
editor = {UCL Global Governance Institute},
url = {https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-governance/news/2020/jul/virus-and-machine-why-we-need-talk-about-global-ai-governance},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-27},
urldate = {2020-07-27},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {online}
}
Süsler, Buğra
Turkey, the EU and the Middle East: Foreign Policy Cooperation and the Arab Uprisings Book
Routledge, London and New York, 2020, ISBN: 9781032336893.
@book{nokey,
title = {Turkey, the EU and the Middle East: Foreign Policy Cooperation and the Arab Uprisings},
author = {Buğra Süsler},
url = {https://www.routledge.com/Turkey-the-EU-and-the-Middle-East-Foreign-Policy-Cooperation-and-the-Arab/Susler/p/book/9781032336893},
isbn = {9781032336893},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-03-31},
urldate = {2020-03-31},
publisher = {Routledge},
address = {London and New York},
series = {Series in Foreign Policy Analysis},
abstract = {This book focuses on the dynamics of Turkey’s relationship with Europe in the context of the ‘Arab Spring’ and analyses Turkish behaviour vis-à-vis foreign policy cooperation with the EU.
Süsler explains the complexity of Turkey-EU relations by looking beyond membership negotiations and examines informal foreign policy dialogue between Turkish and EU officials. The book discusses the reactions of the Turkish government to the uprisings in Libya, Syria, and Egypt and cooperative opportunities between Turkey and the EU. The analysis finds that although cooperation varies across cases, foreign policy dialogue has become a main driver of the Turkey-EU relationship. A counter-intuitive finding of the research is that the EU has often been the actor seeking Turkey’s cooperation, rather than the other way round, clearly challenging the original power asymmetry between Turkey and the EU.
Based on interviews with diplomats and policy makers and extensive documentary research, this book will be of interest to political scientists, students, policy makers and researchers focusing on Turkish foreign policy and Turkey-EU relations. This book is also about exploring inventive ways of maintaining a complex working partnership with the EU and will be of interest to scholars working on the EU’s relationship with "outsiders".},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
This book focuses on the dynamics of Turkey’s relationship with Europe in the context of the ‘Arab Spring’ and analyses Turkish behaviour vis-à-vis foreign policy cooperation with the EU.
Süsler explains the complexity of Turkey-EU relations by looking beyond membership negotiations and examines informal foreign policy dialogue between Turkish and EU officials. The book discusses the reactions of the Turkish government to the uprisings in Libya, Syria, and Egypt and cooperative opportunities between Turkey and the EU. The analysis finds that although cooperation varies across cases, foreign policy dialogue has become a main driver of the Turkey-EU relationship. A counter-intuitive finding of the research is that the EU has often been the actor seeking Turkey’s cooperation, rather than the other way round, clearly challenging the original power asymmetry between Turkey and the EU.
Based on interviews with diplomats and policy makers and extensive documentary research, this book will be of interest to political scientists, students, policy makers and researchers focusing on Turkish foreign policy and Turkey-EU relations. This book is also about exploring inventive ways of maintaining a complex working partnership with the EU and will be of interest to scholars working on the EU’s relationship with "outsiders".
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