We are not barbarians

Gender politics and Turkey's quest for the West

Bibliographic Data

ID4444422
AuthorsAli Bilgic (0000-0002-5593-894X, Bilkent University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume29
Issue2
Pages198-218
Publication date2015-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0047117814565524
OpenAlexW2137089360
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited31

Turkey's policy-makers have historically aimed to position Turkey within the West by convincing the latter that Turkey meets the 'standards' of the West, that they 'are not barbarians'. This article aims to offer a gender analysis of Turkey's relations with the West by showing how 'devalorization' as feminization and hypermasculinization of the non-West becomes a source of insecurity for non-Western policy-makers. This gendered ontological insecurity is intensified when they face a military threat from a third party. The argument is that Turkey's policy-makers try to benefit from military crises in order to represent Turkey as a state meeting Western 'standards' of masculinity, and therefore to address its gendered 'devalorization'. The analysis aims to contribute to the literatures of postcolonial feminism and non-Western insecurities

Argument (complex analysis) · Face (sociological concept) · Feminism · Feminization (sociology) · Gender analysis · International relations · Masculinity · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Position (finance) · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society