From Challenging the Limits to the Limits of Challenging: Discussing the Environment in Top-Tier International Relations Journals in Türkiye

Authors : Yusuf Murteza

Pages : 71-98

Doi:10.58699/tyir.1738346

View : 129 | Download : 310

Publication Date : 2025-12-23

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :International environmental politics lacks critical engagement. In the discipline of International Relations, environmental issues have long been treated as peripheral. In the limited number of scientific publications addressing these topics, mainstream perspectives utilized neorealist and neoliberal approaches. These perspectives fail to question the structural inequalities hardwired into the international system. In this context, this study examines how Turkish IR scholarship engages with environmental issues. Deploying qualitative content analysis, this study examines environment-related articles between 2004 and 2024 in three top-tier IR journals in Türkiye. Applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, eligible articles were coded and thematically analyzed using MAXQDA software. The findings reveal that most of environment-related articles are framed within state-centered frameworks with limited engagement in critical and status-quo perspectives. In the case of Türkiye, IR scholarship continues to re-produce theories of Western origin in environmental politics. The study attempts to contribute IR’s environmental agenda by underlining the need for a more critical orientation that can build a just and ecological international system.
Keywords : Uluslararası Çevre Siyaseti, Çevre Sorunları, Batı-dışı Uİ Teorileri, Türkiye’de Uİ, İçerik Analizi

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