Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to examine the dialectical relationship between internal and external factors which shaped the foreign policy approach of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, the RP) in Turkey in the 1990s. To grasp the class characteristics of the RP, the relationship between the RP and the state within the power bloc, and its relations with global capitalism, this study addresses the connection between neoliberalism and political Islam in Turkey. To achieve this goal, the study focuses on social relations of production, relations at the state level, and international relations which shaped the foreign policy of the RP. Accordingly, it examines the dialectical relationship between the political and the economic which shaped the material basis of the RP and its foreign policy. The study concludes that the analysis of the RP’s foreign policy requires some form of a combination of internal and external factors which form essential extra economic and political conditions for social cohesion. Finally, it demonstrates that there was neither a shift nor a change in Turkish foreign policy under the RP-led coalition government during 1996 and 1997.

Keywords: Turkey; Islamism; Refah Party; Social Relations of Production; State-Capital Relations; Foreign Policy; Neoliberalism.

Introduction

The focus of this study is on the dialectical relationship between internal and external dimensions which constitute the foreign policy approach of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi, the RP). Accordingly, this study examines the transformation of Turkish foreign policy (TFP) which began in the era of transition to neoliberalism in the 1980s and subsequently has taken a new form in the process of the internationalization of money-capital in the 1990s. This study argues that the restructuring of the social relations of production and reconstituting the state’s financial and regulatory agencies after the transition to neoliberalism have influenced the foreign policy approach of the Turkish state. The process of the internationalisation of money capital in the 1990s, and thus, the interests and operations of transnational capital have also been internalised within the Turkish social formation through the restructuring of the Turkish state after the 1980s. In this process, the second generation (the so-called Islamist bourgeoisie) of Turkish capital has also integrated into social relations of production and foreign policy making in various ways. This study provides a reliable account of how the foreign policy of the RP government relates to the history of Turkish foreign policy and the specificity of social relations of production under the umbrella of an imperialist chain which was fundamentally characterised by uneven and combined development.

To unpack the relationship between internal and external dynamics which shape the foreign policy approach of the RP, this study constructs a three-levels of analysis based on the social relations of production, relations at the state level and foreign policy. The relationship between these three levels is not unilinear, which means that one level influences the other in different ways (Cox 1987: 396-398). Hence, the structure of the study is based on these three levels. The first section of the article defines the RP from a class perspective. Rather than reducing particular positions of different power groups within the RP to their religious and cultural attitudes, this study examines them through an empirical analysis based on their positions in social relations of production, at the state level and in foreign policy-making. Secondly, this study explores the dialectical relationship between the RP and the state. Following the philosophy of internal relations and the conceptualisations of Nicos Poulantzas, this study examines the role of the RP in the power bloc. Thirdly, this study sketches out the connections between the RP’s foreign policy approaches and global capitalism. Furthermore, this study discusses whether there is a shift or incoherency in its policies during its time in power compared to its years in opposition. This means that this study shall assess whether the RP brought a change to traditional Western-centric TFP. Lastly, it concludes with a discussion on the insights offered by this article for the broader scholarly literature.