106
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Hegemony, Europeanization, and Migration Diplomacy: Case of the EU-Turkey Statement and Action Plan

ORCID Icon
Published online: 13 May 2024
 

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the Turkey Statement and Action Plan concerning the concept of hegemony, Europeanization, and migration diplomacy. In contrast to the mainstream literature, which exclusively concentrates on the idea of the Europeanization process and balance politics in its analysis of the deal, this study explains the deal with the perspective of hegemony and hegemonic stability theory, along with mentioning discourses of Turkey and EU officials. In other words, the Europeanization process with the migration crisis in 2016 led to—especially economic—hegemony, which resulted by consent, not coercion, in the relationship between Turkey and the EU. Based on the deal, externalization, trade relations and rhetoric of Turkey and the EU, the article concludes that the migration crisis established a based hegemony between Turkey and the EU on the subject of the migration crisis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

[1] Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, International Publishers, New York, 1992. p. 45.

[2] Robert O. Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984. p. 12.

[3] Jr. Joseph S. Nye, ‘Soft Power’, Foreign Policy, 80, 1990, p. 171.

[4] Noam Chomsky, Profit over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order, Seven Stories Press, USA, 1998. p. 72.

[5] Sandra Lavenex and Emek M. Uçarer, ‘The External Dimension of Europeanization’, Cooperation and Conflict, 39(4), 2016, p. 421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836704047582.

[6] Paul Collier and Alexander Betts, Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017. p. 117.

[7] For more examples of Europeanization literature, see Maria Cowles, James Caporaso, and Thomas Risse, Transforming Europe: Europeanisation and Domestic Change, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2001; Kevin Featherstone and Claudio Radaelli, The Politics of Europeanisation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003; Frank Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier, The Europeanisation of Central and Eastern Europe, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2005; Thomas Diez, Apostolos Agnantopoulos, and Alper Kaliber, ‘File: Turkey, Europeanization and civil society: introduction’, South European Society and Politics, 10(1), 2005; Frank Schimmelfennig, Stefan Engert, and Heiko Knobel, International socialization in Europe: European organizations, political conditionality and democratic change, Palgrave and Macmillan, Houndmills, 2006.

[8] Fırat Genç, Gerda Heck, and Sabine Hess, ‘The Multilayered Migration Regime in Turkey: Contested Regionalization, Deceleration and Legal Precarization’, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 34(4), 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2017.1344562; Bill Frelick, Ian M Kysel, and Jennifer Podkul, ‘The impact of externalization of migration controls on the rights of asylum seekers and other migrants’, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 4(4), 2016.

[9] Elif Uzgören, ‘Globalisation and the struggle over hegemony in a peripheral context: Turkey’s membership bid to the European Union’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 23(2), 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2020.1867808.

[10] Freerk Boedeltje and Henk Van Houtum, ‘Brussels is speaking: The adverse speech geo-politics of the European Union towards its neighbours’, Geopolitics, 16(1), 2011; Paolo Giaccaria and Claudio Minca, ‘The Mediterranean alternative’, Progress in Human Geography, 35(3), 2011; James Wesley Scott, ‘The EU and “wider Europe”: toward an alternative geopolitics of regional cooperation?’, Geopolitics, 10(3), 2005; James Wesley Scott, ‘Bordering and ordering the European neighbourhood: a critical perspective on EU territoriality and geopolitics’, Trames, 13(3), 2009; Henk Van Houtum and Freerk Boedeltje, ‘Questioning the EU’s neighbourhood geo-politics: Introduction to a special section’, Geopolitics, 16(1), 2011.

[11] Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, p. 80.

[12] Adam David Morton, Unravelling Gramsci: Hegemony and Passive Revolution in the Global Political Economy, Pluto Press, London, 2007, p. 78.

[13] Peter D. Thomas, The Gramscian moment: philosophy, hegemony and Marxism, Brill Academic Pub, Leiden, 2009, p. 160.

[14] Perry Anderson, ‘The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci’, New Left Review, 100, 1976, p. 20; p. 21; p. 49.

[15] Başak Alpan, ‘“Europe-as-Hegemony” and Discourses in Turkey after 1999: What has “Europeanization” Got to Do with It?’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 16(1), 2014, p. 70. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2013.864184.

[16] Robert O Keohane, ‘The theory of hegemonic stability and changes in international economic regimes, 1967–1977’, in Change in the international system, Routledge, 2019; Sandra Destradi, ‘Regional powers and their strategies: empire, hegemony, and leadership’, Review of International Studies, 36(4), 2010; Duncan Snidal, ‘The limits of hegemonic stability theory’, International organization, 39(4), 1985.

[17] Michael C. Webb and Stephen D. Krasner, ‘Hegemonic Stability Theory: An Empirical Assessment’, Review of International Studies, 15, 1989, p. 183.

[18] Cédric Durand and Razmig Keucheyan, ‘Financial hegemony and the unachieved European state’, Competition & Change 19(2), 2015, p. 5, https://doi.org/10.1177/1024529415571870.

[19] Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression 1929–1939, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1986. p. 304.

[20] Stephen D. Krasner, ‘State power and the structure of international trade’, World Politics, 28(3), 1976, p. 322.

[21] Webb and Krasner, ‘Hegemonic Stability Theory: An Empirical Assessment’, p. 183; Joshua Goldstein and Jon C. Pevehouse, International Relations, Pearson Education, New Jersey, 2014. p. 59.

[22] Robert O. Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence, Pearson Education, New York, 2012. p. 216.

[23] Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, p. 6.

[24] Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, pp. 33–34.

[25] Kelly M. Greenhill, ‘Open Arms Behind Barred Doors: Fear, Hypocrisy and Policy Schizophrenia in the European Migration Crisis’, European Law Journal, 22(3), 2016, p. 320, https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12179.

[26] Robert D. Putnam, ‘Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games’, International Organization, 42(3), 1988.

[27] Nefise Ela Gokalp Aras, ‘Coercive engineered Syrian mass migration in the eu‐turkey relations: A case analysis for future reference’, International Migration, 57(2), 2019, p. 187.

[28] Nathalie Tocci, ‘Turkey and the European Union’, in The Routledge Handbook of Modern Turkey, Routledge, 2013; Meltem Müftüler‐Bac, ‘The never‐ending story: Turkey and the European Union’, Middle Eastern Studies, 34(4), 1998; Sübidey Togan, ‘Turkey: toward EU accession’, World Economy, 27(7), 2004.

[29] Andrea Ott, ‘EU-Turkey Cooperation in Migration Matters: A Game Changer in a Multi Layered Relationship?’, CLEER Paper Series, 2017/4, T.M.C. Asser Institute for International & European Law 2017–4, 2017, pp. 8–11, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3118921.

[30] Featherstone and Radaelli, The Politics of Europeanisation, p. 30.

[31] Alpan, “Europe-as-Hegemony” and Discourses in Turkey after 1999: What has “Europeanization” Got to Do with It? p. 70.

[32] Claudio M. Radaelli and Romain Pasquier, ‘Conceptual Issues’, in Paolo Graziano and Maarten P. Vink (ed.), Europeanization: New Research Agendas, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007, p. 43.

[33] Maria Green Cowles and Thomas Risse, ‘Transforming Europe: Conclusions’, in Maria Green Cowles, James Caporaso, and Thomas Risse (ed.), Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change, Cornell University Press, New York, 2001.

[34] Christof Roos, The EU and immigration policies: cracks in the walls of fortress Europe? Springer, 2013; Didier Bigo, ‘Frontiers and security in the European Union: The illusion of migration control’, The frontiers of Europe, 1998; A. Geddes, Immigration and European integration. Towards fortress Europe? Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2000; James F. Hollifield, ‘The emerging migration state 1’, International Migration Review, 38(3), 2004.

[35] Alexander Bürgin and Derya Aşıkoğlu, ‘Turkey’s New Asylum Law: a Case of EU Influence’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 19(2), 2015, p. 124, https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2015.1099277.

[36] Tolga Bölükbaşı, H. Ebru Ertuğal, and Saime Özçürümez, ‘The Impact of the EU on Turkey: Toward Streamlining Europeanisation as a Research Programme’, European Political Science, 9, 2010, p. 477.

[37] Birce Demiryontar, ‘Accession conditionality and migration diplomacy: Turkey’s dual identity in migration policy negotiations with the EU’, European Politics and Society, 22(1), 2020, p. 91. https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2020.1719741.

[38] Kelly M. Greenhill, Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion and Foreign Policy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2010.

[39] For more detailed information, see an important study dealing with visa requests and progress between Turkey and the EU between 2000 and 2012: Cenk Aygül, ‘Visa Regimes as Power: The Cases of the EU and Turkey’, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 38(4), 2013.

[40] Frank Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier, ‘Governance By Conditionality: Eu Rule Transfer To The Candidate Countries Of Central And Eastern Europe’, Journal of European Public Policy, 11(4), 2004, p. 663.

[41] Lisa Haferlach and Dilek Kurban, ‘Lessons Learnt from the EU-Turkey Refugee Agreement in Guiding EU Migration Partnerships with Origin and Transit Countries’, Global Policy, 8, 2017, p. 86, https://doi.org/10.1111/1758–5899.12432.

[42] Alexander Bürgin, ‘European Commission’s Agency Meets Ankara’s Agenda: Why Turkey Is Ready For A Readmission Agreement’, Journal of European Public Policy ,19(6), 2012, pp. 889–95.

[43] European Commission, Roadmap Towards A Visa-Free Regime With Turkey, European Commission, Brussels, 2013.

[44] European Commission, Report From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council, Third Report On Progress By Turkey In Fulfilling The Requirements Of Its Visa Liberalisation Roadmap, Brussels, 2016.

[45] European Council, ‘EU-Turkey Statement, 18 March 2016’, news release, 2016, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/

[46] Inka Stock, Ayşen Üstübici, and Susanne U. Schultz, ‘Externalization at work: responses to migration policies from the Global South’, Comparative Migration Studies, 2019, p. 1.

[47] Thomas Faist, ‘Contested externalization: responses to global inequalities’, Comparative Migration Studies, 2019, p. 1.

[48] Faist, ‘Contested externalization: responses to global inequalities’, p. 2.

[49] See: Christian Joppke, Challenge to the nation-state: Immigration in Western Europe and the United States, Oxford University Press, USA, 1998.

[50] Andrew Geddes, ‘Europe’s border relationships and international migration relations’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 43(4), 2005, pp. 787, 803; Etienne Balibar, ‘Europe as borderland’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 27(2), 2009; Tony Bunyan, ‘Just over the horizon—the surveillance society and the state in the EU’, Race & Class, 51(3), 2010.

[51] Claudia Finotelli and Giuseppe Sciortino, ‘Through the gates of the fortress: European visa policies and the limits of immigration control’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 14(1), 2013, p. 85.

[52] Kevin Stringer, ‘Visa diplomacy’, Diplomacy and Statecraft, 15(4), 2004.

[53] Lena Laube, ‘The relational dimension of externalizing border control: selective visa policies in migration and border diplomacy’, Comparative Migration Studies, 7(29), 2019, p. 2.

[54] Sandra Lavenex and Rachel Stucky, ‘Partnering’for migration in EU external relations’, in R. Kunz, S. Lavenex, and & M. Panizzon (ed.), Multilayered migration governance, Routledge, London, 2011; Florian Trauner and Imke Kruse, ‘EC visa facilitation and readmission agreements: A new standard EU foreign policy tool?’, European Journal of Migration and Law 10(4), 2008.

[55] Michael C Ewers, Justin Gengler, and Bethany Shockley, ‘Bargaining power: A framework for understanding varieties of migration experience’, International Migration Review 55(4), 2021.

[56] Fiona B Adamson, “Re‐spatializing migration governance: From ‘multi‐level’ to ‘entangled’”, International Migration, 2023.

[57] Stock, Üstübici, and Schultz, ‘Externalization at work: responses to migration policies from the Global South’, pp. 2–3.

[58] ‘Tusk gives the EU two months to “save Schengen”’, Euronews, 19 January 2016, https://www.euronews.com/2016/01/19/tusk-gives-the-eu-two-months-to-save-schengen (accessed 10 February 2023).

[59] ‘Highlights: EU leaders debate Turkey migration deal’, Reuters. 17 March 2016. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-highlights/highlights-eu-leaders-debate-turkey-migration-deal-idUSKCN0WJ1ZU. (accessed 10 February 2023).

[60] European Commission, ‘14th Norbert Schmelzer lecture—Lecture by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, “The European Union—a source of stability in a time of crisis”’, news release, 2016, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_16_583.

[61] M. Lemberg-Pedersen, ‘Effective Protection or Effective Combat? EU Border Control and North Africa’, in P. Gaibazzi, Dünnwald S., Bellagamba A. (eds). EurAfrican Borders and Migration Management: Political Cultures, Contested Spaces and Ordinary Lives, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2017, p. 40.

[62] Lavenex and Uçarer, ‘The External Dimension of Europeanization’, p. 424.

[63] Asli Okyay and Jonathan Zaragoza-Cristiani, ‘The Leverage of the Gatekeeper: Power and Interdependence in the Migration Nexus between the EU and Turkey’, The International Spectator, 51(4), 2016, p. 58. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2016.1235403.

[64] Isaac Kfir, ‘A Faustian pact: Has the EU-Turkey deal undermined the EU’s own security?’ Comparative Strategy 37(3), 2018, p. 215.

[65] ‘Turkey’s Erdogan threatened to flood Europe with migrants: Greek website’, Reuters. 08 February 2016. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-idUSKCN0VH1R0 (accessed 10 February 2023).

[66] ‘Turkey’s Erdogan threatens to “open the gates” for migrants to Europe’, Euronews, 05 September 2019. https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/05/turkey-s-erdogan-threatens-to-open-the-gates-for-migrants-to-europe (accessed 10 February 2023).

[67] ‘Turkey will call off migrant deal if EU fails to grant visa-free travel by June—PM’, Reuters, 18 April 2016. https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/05/turkey-s-erdogan-threatens-to-open-the-gates-for-migrants-to-europe (accessed 10 February 2023).

[68] Sibel Karadağ, ‘Extraterritoriality of European borders to Turkey: an implementation perspective of counteractive strategies’, Comparative Migration Studies, 7(12), 2019.

[69] ‘Yanı Başımızdaki Dev Pazar Avrupa Birliği’, 2023, https://ticaret.gov.tr/dis-iliskiler/avrupa-birligi/yani-basimizdaki-dev-pazar-avrupa-birligi.

[71] Jorge Urbaneja Cillán, ‘The European Union-Turkey Cooperation on Migration Matters: towards a Review of the Migratory Statement of 18 March 2016’, Paix et Securite Internationales, 8, 2020, p. 216, https://doi.org/10.25267/Paix_secur_int.2020.i8.

[72] Alejandro Del Valle Galvez, ‘Refugee Crisis and Migrations at the Gates of Europe: Deterritoriality, Extraterritoriality and Externalization of Border Controls’, Paix & Section International, 7, 2019, pp. 147–48.

[73] Cathryn Costello, ‘Safe country? Says who?’ International Journal of Refugee Law, 28(4), 2016, pp. 9–12.

[74] Ayşen Üstübici, ‘The impact of externalized migration governance on Turkey: technocratic migration governance and the production of differentiated legal status’, Comparative Migration Studies, 7(46), 2019, p. 1.

[75] Jean-Claude Juncker, State of the Union 2017, Publications Office of the European Union (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017), p. 57. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/128845/state-union-2017-brochure_en.pdf.

[76] Karadağ, ‘Extraterritoriality of European borders to Turkey: an implementation perspective of counteractive strategies’, p. 3.

[77] ‘When the eu is no longer able to bribe turkey, the blackmail will begin’, The Spectator 2016. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/when-the-eu-is-no-longer-able-to-bribe-turkey-the-blackmail-will-begin/ (accessed 10 February 2023).

[78] Viktor Almqvist, ‘Parliament wants to suspend EU accession negotiations with Turkey’, News Release, 13 March 2019. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20190307IPR30746/parliament-wants-to-suspend-eu-accession-negotiations-with-turkey.

[79] ‘İstatistik’, Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı, 2023. https://www.goc.gov.tr/gecici-koruma5638 (accessed 10 February 2023).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 383.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.