The Effects of National Role Conceptions on Bilateral Relations: Japan—Turkey Relationship in Quests of Identity

Abstract

The framework of Role Theory has been developed in Foreign Policy Analysis to explain the behavior of states in the international system from an ideational point of view. However, it has not been applied as a tool for the analysis of bilateral relations. This study, by analyzing Japan-Turkey relations from its early beginnings up until today, aims not only to give a general sketch of relations and demonstrate its previously unknown richness, but it also aims to understand the impact of the choice of national role conceptions to the development and nature of the bilateral relations. By dividing and analyzing the Japan-Turkey relations in six phases that are defined by various role conceptions adopted by these countries, this study argues that two factors, level and mutuality of internationalization and the compatibility of the national role conceptions, are major factors influential in determining the nature and dynamics of bilateral relations, more than the international political orientation. It also analyzes the domestic political processes that lead these countries to assume the ascribed international roles, suggesting that the search for domestic political identity and consolidation as major influential factors in the adoption of role conceptions which in turn have consequences for bilateral relations.