The Self and the Other

Individual Emotions and Ontological Security in Turkish Foreign Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID6414641
AuthorsNasuh Sofuoğlu (0000-0002-8453-4557, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University), Samer Sharani (0000-0002-6678-8596, Arts and Social Sciences, Sabancı University), Erman Ermihan (0000-0002-2152-3295, Kadir Has University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue4
Pages667-684
Publication date2024-10-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAlternatives Global Local Political (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-3754 • E-ISSN: 2163-3150
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/03043754241291121
OpenAlexW4403214544
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited70

Emotions and ontological security open up one of the latest avenues in International Relations (IR). An increasing number of interdisciplinary approaches have been engaging in emotions and ontological security, for example, foreign policy analysis. However, academic research is scarce concerning the triangulation of emotions, foreign policy, and individual ontological security. Driven by the gap in the literature, the study analyzes how Turkey’s foreign policy decisions influence individual existentialism in terms of ontological security during the AKP era. A subsidiary question addresses how Turkey’s foreign policy decisions adjust/affect individual emotions towards its most engaged and interacted countries. Based on Ontological Security Theory (OST), the study has conducted 20 interviews. The questions cover Turkey’s foreign policy milestones: the start of the EU accession negotiations, the “one minute incident,” the Mavi Marmara incident, and the Arab Uprisings and the Syrian Civil War. The questions aim to reveal people’s emotional reactions to and descriptions of such events. The interview transcripts are analyzed in a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) context. Through CDA, the individuals’ perceptions of risk, threat, and danger are analyzed to seek the determinants of growing existential uncertainty in tandem with significant foreign policy decisions of the AKP government. This study finds that foreign policy decisions in Turkey impact individuals’ emotions based on key events. Through the case of Turkey, the study contributes to the emerging literature on emotions and ontological security by studying the dimensions between foreign policy and individual insecurities and emotions

Context (archaeology · Existentialism · Foreign policy · Foreign policy analysis · Ontological security · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Security studies · Sociology · Turkish · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Turkey's Politics and Society

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