Courses Offered In The Past

Analysis of major concepts in the study of international relations, focus on the dynamics of globalization and transformation of nation-states; examination of the role of state and nonstate actors in world politics.

Political and economic developments in Turkey’s neighborhood: the Balkans, the Caucasus, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Turkey’s economic and political relations with its neighbors.

Costs and benefits of a common currency. The theory of optimum currency areas. Incomplete monetary unions and the European Monetary System. Transition to a monetary union in Europe. Monetary and fiscal policies in a monetary union with special reference to the European Union. The structure and operations of the European Central Bank.

The notion of “community” in European political thought and practice. The various understandings of community conceived in “local” and “translocal” terms such as the Greek polis, the Roman republican and imperial traditions, the universal medieval Church, and the modern nation-state. The politics and vision of the present-day European Community as part of a chain of continuity and innovation in Western political thought and practice.

Examination of the formation of a common foreign and security policy of the European Union. Survey of policy making in the European Union vis-à-vis major issues in international affairs.

Development of civil society, the public sphere, the state and democratic institutions in modern Europe. Transformation of state-society relations. Evolution of individual rights and participatory mechanisms. Formation and dissemination of a civic culture and democratic social values. Emergence of new social movements, new political ideologies and non-governmental organizations.

Enlargement of the European Union toward Southern and Eastern Europe. Legal aspects of the enlargament process with an emphasis on the decisions of the European Union institutions on the issue of enlargement, association treatises between the European Union and the candidate states, and accession partnerships and national programs. Public opinion in the member and candidate states regarding enlargement. Social, economic, political and cultural changes in the candidate states in the process of integration with the European Union. The impact of enlargement on the European Union and the impending institutional reforms to accommodate new members.

Analysis of the European Union within the broader context of the global finance, trade and production, particularly vis-a-vis Japan and the United States. The European Union's role in the World Trade Organization, the role of the euro in the global financial markets, and the dynamics of the European Union companies in the global production networks.

Exchanges and interactions between Europe and Turkey at the level of high culture, popular culture, political ideas and discourses. The issue of Westernization and Europeanization as a dividing line in Turkish society and polity, with an emphasis on the recent debates regarding the influences of European integration on Turkish national sovereignty and national values. European perceptions of Turkey and Turkish culture.

The historical and cultural setting of the relations between European and Middle Eastern countries. Consequences of European colonialism in the emergence of the modern Middle East. Islamic movements, Arab nationalism, and problems of democratization in the Middle East. Future of the European Union and Middle Eastern relations in the context of the European Neighborhood policy.

History and nature of globalization. European responses to globalization with special focus on domestic and foreign policies of the EU member states and Turkey.

Challenges and contributions of the Islamic movements to the political, economic, cultural and security dimensions of globalization.

Different definitions of peace and security; challenges and threats to global peace and security. Causes of conflict and violence and the ways to resolve, manage, and control both violent and nonviolent conflicts in the world.

Banking in Europe and the US in a historical perspective. Other financial institutions. Regulation of the financial system. Structure of debt and equity markets in Europe. The role of the European Central Bank and the impact of Euro on financial markets. The globalization of financial markets from the European perspective.

The economic aspects of the European Union competition policy. Collusion, vertical restraints and anti-competitive mergers. The economics of competition in network industries, and applications to telecoms, postal networks, airlines, electricity, gas, and rail sectors in the European Union. Economic and institutional issues related to regulatory policy in the European Union. Empirical assessment of competition and regulatory policies.

Economic implications of the 1963 Association Agreement between Turkey and the European Economic Community. The 1970 Additional Protocol and its implementation. The Customs Union agreement of 1995, its coverage and procedures. The impact of the Customs Union on the Turkish economy. Developments in the Turkish economy with respect to the Copenhagen economic criteria. Euro and the Turkish economy.

Evolution of environmental policy in Turkey, Europe and the Middle East. Linkages between environmental and economic systems. Role of regulatory and economic instruments in environmental policy. Use of regulatory and economic instruments in practice. Environmental policy in the context of international conventions on the environment.

Development issues from European, Middle Eastern and North African perspectives. Regions and regionalism in development studies. Interactions within the regions and with the global economy.

A discussion of the current debates regarding the decline of the nation-state in the European Union. The position of the European nation-state with regard to the supranational forces such as the European Single Market, the European Monetary Union, and the European law. Local, regional and private forces that are gaining strength at the expense of European unification. A comparison of the decline of the nation-state in Europe with the United States, Japan, and the less developed countries.

Study of present-day gender relations in the context of Muslim societies, European Islam and Islamic movements of a global scale. Muslim women's visibility and participation in the public sphere; impact of global capitalism and consumption patterns on the lives of Muslim women. Analysis of specific cases from Turkey, the Middle East, Balkans and Europe.

Introduction to the theory of social movements and protest events. Case studies of old and new types of social movements and protests in Europe and the Middle East from a comparative perspective.

Changing patterns of global politics, the actuality of nation-state as a political form and recent debates on empire as a political category. Comparison of historical empires of the nineteenth-century with contemporary state forms.

History of European diplomacy and international relations from the Westphalia Treaty to the end of the Cold War. The emergence of the European modern state system, balance of power, nationalism, colonialism, the world wars, decolonization and the Cold War.

An examination of the emergence of two categories of the modern state in Western Europe in the late 18th and the 19th centuries: the "rule of law state" and the "social rights state". Emphasis will be on the tension between the role of the state as overseer of economic activity subject to the "rule of law" and the understanding of state as shaper of market society through regulation and legislation.

Directed research leading to a term paper on a topic of interest to the student, chosen with the approval of the advisor.