Strategic autonomy in Turkish foreign policy in an age of multipolarity: lineages and contradictions of an idea

Abstract

Strategic autonomy has become a guiding principle for several states as the international order moves toward multipolarity. Turkey has also attempted to carve out a more autonomous space from its traditional Western allies by building new ties in the non-Western world, ranging from the Russia–China axis to the Middle East and beyond. This paper explores the idea and practice of strategic autonomy in Turkish foreign policy. We argue that strategic autonomy is not pre-determined or mechanically driven by ‘hedging’ behavior. We conceptualize strategic autonomy with reference to its three fundamental dimensions: structural orientation, political motive, and economic infrastructure. In this context, we highlight two soft spots in Turkish foreign policy since 2011. First, geopolitical imperatives and domestic policy priorities often contradict each other, which prevents the country from effectively implementing autonomy-seeking policies. Second, strategic autonomy is mainly associated with ‘high politics’ without paying proper attention to its geoeconomic dimension in the form of solid political economy fundamentals and economic security.