From containment to realpolitik and back again: a realist contructivist analysis of Turkey-EU relations and the migration issue

Martin, N ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1036-5463, 2019. From containment to realpolitik and back again: a realist contructivist analysis of Turkey-EU relations and the migration issue. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57 (6), pp. 1349-1365. ISSN 0021-9886

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Abstract

The EU's reaction to the migration 'crisis' of 2015/16 was to 'shower' the Turkish government with 'gifts' to secure cooperation on the Aegean crossing. This led to accusations of realpolitik after Brussels made concessions to Turkey despite Ankara's liberal democratic deficit. This paper examines EU policy before, during and after the migration 'crisis' to argue that the situation is more nuanced than this suggests. Turkey-EU accession had been in a state of 'containment' for nearly a decade before the migration issue. Brussels' reaction to it raised questions about the EU’s liberal identity but it backtracked quickly once the extent of illiberality following the attempted coup d'état emerged. Turkey-EU relations then returned to a pre-migration state of 'containment' whereby Turkey remains a candidate but progress towards accession depends on liberal progress. Using Realist Constructivism, it concludes the EU's liberal democratic standards remain, but the liberal bar is pliable according to circumstances.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Common Market Studies
Creators:	Martin, N.
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Date:	14 November 2019
Volume:	57
Number:	6
ISSN:	0021-9886
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/jcms.12947 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	15 May 2019 13:02
Last Modified:	06 Jul 2022 13:59
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/36557

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