Interventionism in US foreign policy from Bush to Obama
This chapter considers the evolution of US policy and practice towards foreign military intervention under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and in terms of strategic intent finds no evidence of substantive change. Although the language of the ‘Global War on Terror’ has been replaced by one of a ‘transnational global conflict’ the underlying policy drivers remain the same: America’s security and related interests continue to shape its foreign policy and provide the justification for an exceptionalist interpretation of international law, to the disappointment of those who hoped Obama's election would usher in a new era of strengthened global norms. However, a change in US official thinking is evident in a greater appreciation of the limitations of certain forms of intervention, and in the emergence of alternative policy instruments to deliver US strategic objectives.
United States security cooperation with Kenya in the second decade of the 21st century
The subject of the paper is the cooperation of the United States with Kenya in the area of security in the second decade of the 21st century. The introduction contains the methodological assumptions of the paper and a synthetic historical background. The first section of the paper covers the theoretical framework. The second section outlines the increase of the United States’ strategic involvement in Africa, including East Africa, in the 21st century. The third section discusses the joint efforts of the US and Kenya in combating terrorism and piracy. The fourth section is devoted to US training and development assistance for the Kenyan security sector. The considerations are carried out within the framework of the postcolonial current of the theory of international relations. During the research, the method of analyzing text sources was used. The main thesis of the paper assumes that although Africa, including Kenya, was not a particularly important area of strategic interest of the United States, these countries had significant common security interests and undertook cooperation to implement them. First of all, it concerned counteracting international terrorism, but also the general stabilization of East Africa. In the future, the importance of East Africa in American politics might systematically increase, both in the area of economy and security, which will entail further strengthening of cooperation between the US and Kenya.
Turkish Political Culture and Civil Society : an Unsettling Coupling?
This paper attempts to analyze Turkish politics in the post-1980 period with a special reference to the relationship among the state elites, political elites and societal actors and its impact on the constitution of civil society in Turkey. After the 1980 military intervention, the political and economic realms of Turkey witnessed a relative degree of liberalization through Uzal's neo-liberal policies. The January 24 economic decisions paved the way for economic liberalization as well as letting new economic and societal actors emerge. These new economic actors were different from the prevailing economic actors which used to enjoy having a considerable amount of opportunity spaces in the economic sphere. Together with the Uzal governments, Islamic segments started to become powerful in both political and economic realms. This paper analyses the chief traits of Turkish politics and economics and their impact upon civil society aftermath the 1980 coup in general, and the relationship and/or interaction among the state elites, political elites and societal actors in particular. The engagements of newly-emerging societal and economic actors into Turkish political scene and the challenge of these actors against the so-called 'Kemalist-Republican' elites are also illustrated in the paper. Moreover, state-Islam interaction, politics-Islam interaction as well as Kemalism-newly-emerging societal and economic actors interaction will be studied with a special emphasis to the post-1980 period. The major argument of the paper is that, in Turkey, both civil society issues and political issues reveal outcomes which are primarily shaped by the nature of the relationship between state elites and political elites in general and by Turkish political culture in particular.