Energy and Regional Power in Advanced Developing States

: A Turkish Case Study

Abstract

The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed a proliferation of academic literature on the economically ascendant, internationally engaged states of the global South like the BRICS, Mexico, and Turkey. IR literature on energy has accounted for the rise of these states in terms of the recalibration of global hydrocarbon geopolitics, but is limited in considering the ways in which these advanced developing states use energy to obtain and maintain power. Other sub-schools of IR on middle, emerging, and rising powers pay more attention to how these states accrue and exercise power. One of these literatures - that on regional powers - provides the framework for this project. This thesis argues that IR does not pay sufficient regard to how energy (a key material resource) either contributes to regional power or shapes the agendas of advanced developing states that are also regional powers. This thesis consequently explores the nexus between energy and regional power for advanced developing states. Adopting a case-study approach, the thesis considers how energy and regional power were related for Turkey between 2002 and 2014 in the Caspian region. It argues that despite being disadvantaged by limited energy reserves in a region dominated by major energy states, the governing AKP party saw energy and regional status as intrinsically linked for Turkey. An examination of Ankara’s relationships with Iran and Russia - two other advanced developing states enables a detailed analysis of the manifestation of the relationship between energy and regional power in the regional context for Turkey. Overall, the thesis contends that acknowledging the relationship between energy and regional power for advanced developing states facilitates understanding of power relations between states in the global South and provides insight into the ways in which those states effect and affect power in regional politics.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Aberystwyth University
Supervisor	Charalampos Efstathopoulos (Supervisor) & Alistair Shepherd (Supervisor)