Regional Ties within an Emerging Art Market Area: Positioning Istanbul as a Hub The objective of this paper is to analyze Istanbul art world’s recent positioning as a point of attraction for neighboring countries’ art scenes, in the context of the debate on Turkey’s soft power. Drawing on critiques made on Nye’s concept, this paper takes the focus out of state actors and of tools promoting national interests abroad. Instead, it emphasizes urban elites’ role in promoting their city’s international attractiveness and complex regional independencies resulting from complementarities and competition among neighboring cities. The emergence of new artistic polarities in Gulf cities in the years 2000 has pushed Istanbul art scene to develop ties with the Middle East, in order

The African student’s migration in Turkey : a Challenge for the Gülen Movement Our paper will try to reintegrate the complexity of realities beyond the often vague concept of Soft Power. In this paper, we argue that the concept of Soft Power if it can be considered as a “category of practice” (used by actors in everyday settings to make sense of themselves, of their activities, of what they share with, and how they differ from, others) can not be accepted as a “category of analysis” (the ‘experience-distant categories used by social analysts’ in an academic context) . In order to do so, we will focus on a Turkish private actor’s strategy of influence: the Gülen Movement. Here we will

An illusionary ‘power of seduction’: an assessment of Turkey’s soft power capacity in the Arab World This paper aims at exploring Turkey’s soft power capacity in the Arab world/Middle East region. The author first focuses on the concept of soft power as perceived and understood by Turkish policy-makers: through an in-depth analysis of the public discourse of key officials (Gül, Erdoğan, Davutoğlu) and the theoretical works of A. Davutoğlu (specifically his book “Strategic Depth”), the author explains the vision Turkey has of its role and soft power capacity in the world. Having discussed the theoretical framework, the author will then examine the implementation of Turkey’s soft power in the region. In particular, the paper will analyze three specific instruments used

The rising role of businessmen in Turkish Foreign policy: case of Turkey’s influence in Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government’s State Building process Despite political taboos in Turkish Foreign Policy towards the formation of a Kurdish state in the Middle East Turkey adopted a particular position when Iraqi Kurds started the Kurdish State building process in 2005 when the new Iraqi Constitution was proclaimed. Since the recognition of the Iraqi Constitution that gave to the Kurds not only political autonomy but also economic independence, Turkey has become the main actor in the State Building process of the Kurdish autonomous region. Businessmen form Turkey, Turks and Kurds, are contributing to the physical infrastructure of this quasi state. Turkey is involved in the KRG’s

Turkish Sport diplomacy as a tool for a renewed power? Success and limits to Turkish soft power. L’annonce de l’attribution des Jeux Olympiques 2020 à Tokyo au détriment d’Istanbul le 7 septembre dernier a été ressentie avec beaucoup d’amertume par les autorités politiques du pays qui ont fortement soutenu depuis vingt ans toutes les candidatures précédentes. Il faut préciser qu’à l’issue des visites d’évaluation des villes candidates par le Comité International Olympique, Istanbul était apparue aux yeux des spécialistes comme la favorite. De leur côté, les responsables politiques, en premier lieu le Premier ministre, n’avait pas non plus ménagé leur peine en effectuant un nombre importants de déplacements à l’étranger au cours desquels ils ne manquèrent pas de défendre la candidature

Networks of influence: reconceptualising soft power This paper aims to analyse one particularly effective facet of Turkey’s soft power approach. However, soft power is not defined, nor conceptualized, as it was originally conceived of by Nye – rather, by integrating literature from network analysis, I will highlight the ways in which successful use of different networks (in this case by Turkey) can have a profound effect in expanding a country’s foreign policy choices. This paper argues it is crucial that soft power is conceptualized in more nuanced ways, rather than simply referring to a states’ norms and values, media or other reified phenomena. Soft power is about very concrete material forces that a state has at its disposal. Networks are