Turkish accession to the European Union is an important but controversial item on the agenda of the European Union. By focusing on the various domestic sources that drive Turkish politics, this comprehensive study of both classic and new topics supported by fresh, new insights fills a void in the current literature on Turkey-EU relations. This volume is a comprehensive, state of the art study of domestic politics and policies and their role in Turkey’s EU accession. Contributions are obtained from established scholars, acknowledged for their expertise in their respective fields. The content is structured along issues, dynamics, actors and policies that drive Turkish politics and it provides an integrated assessment of the dynamics in Turkey-EU relations to general readers, students and specialists in EU Enlargement and Turkish politics alike. Original contributions to ‘classic’ topics such as the customs union, human rights, military, civil society, public and elite opinion, political parties and the Kurdish issue are made by assessing the domestic sources of recent developments during the negotiations period. In addition, ‘new’ topics are included that previously have not been covered or analyzed in volumes on Turkish-EU relations such as the Alevi issue, European Turks, corruption in Turkey, and Turkish parliamentary elite opinion on Turkey and the EU. This book was published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

This open access book explores the new complexities and ambiguities that epitomize EU-Turkey relations. With a strong focus on the developments in the last decade, the book provides full access to a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted relationship through three entry points: (1) Theories and Concepts, (2) Institutions, and (3) Policies. Part I brings together complementary and competing analytical approaches to study the evolution of EU-Turkey relations, ranging from traditional integration theories to novel concepts. Part II investigates the institutional machinery of EU-Turkey relations by analyzing the roles and perspectives of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. Part III offers analyses of the policies most relevant for the relationship: enlargement policy, trade and macroeconomic policies, foreign and security policy, migration and asylum policies, and energy policy. In Part IV, the volume closes with a systematic survey of the conditions under which cooperative trends in EU-Turkey relations could be (re)invigorated. The systematic setup and the balanced combination of distinguished experts from EU- and Turkey-based institutions make this book a fundamental reading for students, researchers, lecturers, and practitioners of EU-Turkey relations, European integration and Turkish foreign policy. Wulf Reiners is Senior Researcher and Head of the Managing Global Governance (MGG) Program of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). Ebru Turhan is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Turkish-German University in Istanbul, Turkey.

This book by two leading experts provides a comprehensive analysis of Turkey's relationship with the European Union, set in its regional and international context. It provides three analytical lenses through which the relationship might be understood – Turkey as an enlargement country, as an EU neighbour and as a global partner – and unpacks the implications of each. Turkey and the European Union focuses on the five pillars that help define the relationship: economics, migration, security, democracy and human rights, and culture and identity. It shows how the differing perspectives on Turkey's role can influence events and developments in these areas, and it traces the profound fluctuations in relations, from the Association Agreement of 1963, to the candidacy for full membership of 1999, to the limbo of today. Turkey continues to be a critically important country for the European Union. The relationship has consequences that are both ideational, embedded in history, politics, identity and culture, and material, relating to economics, energy and security. In examining this complex relationship, this book addresses a key issue for Europe's future, and does so in a fashion that is both sophisticated and accessible.

This book makes the case for looking afresh at Turkey-EU relations in order to appreciate the richness and complexity of a relationship which is now more than 50 years old and is still not close to reaching fulfilment. The contributors challenge conventional attempts to understand Turkey-EU relations, revealing that EU integration studies has been rather poor at understanding the global context within which Turkey-EU developments take place. More surprising perhaps, EU integration studies has also struggled to give sufficient weight to the potential of Turkey’s domestic politics to shape EU enlargement. The volume attempts to correct these imbalances by offering both a global context and new perspectives on the drivers of domestic politics. It represents a shift from a narrow EU integration/enlargement agenda. Turkey’s position vis-a-vis the EU cannot be adequately captured by simplistic notions of conditionality, harmonization, and an uncritical interpretation of Europeanization. A more rounded view of Turkey-EU relations is advanced based upon a broader context of European and global transformations. The contributions, collected here, offer an interpretation of Turkey-EU relations from a novel perspective, utilize a new framework of theory, and draw upon insights and perspectives from disciplines underrepresented in mainstream study of Turkey-EU relations. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

The book analyses EU foreign policy with Turkey over the last decade by uncovering how its internal functioning and structural context affect the European Union’s decisions. Acknowledging that EU enlargement policy is part of a broader foreign policy framework, which includes also other domains (energy, migration and CFSP), Elena Baracani adopts a unique approach, combining more actor-oriented factors with structural factors to analyse EU–Turkey Relations at national, multinational and international levels.