• Research
  • Experts
  • Events
Carnegie China logoCarnegie lettermark logo
{
  "authors": [
    "Sinan Ülgen"
  ],
  "type": "other",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Carnegie Europe"
  ],
  "collections": [
    "Turkey’s Transformation",
    "EU Integration and Enlargement"
  ],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Europe",
  "programAffiliation": "",
  "programs": [
    "Europe"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "Europe",
    "Türkiye",
    "Middle East",
    "Iran"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "EU",
    "Political Reform"
  ]
}
Other
Carnegie Europe

A Resilience Approach to a Failed Accession State: The Case of Turkey

The Turkey-EU agenda should include a resilience action plan to improve the capacity of Turkish institutions and society to withstand—and eventually seek to roll back—challenges to democracy.

Link Copied
By Sinan Ülgen
Published on Oct 27, 2017

Source: International Affairs Institute

The concept of “building resilience” in Turkey can be defined as improving the capacity of institutions and society to withstand and eventually seek to roll back a sustained challenge to democratic norms. From the perspective of Turkish society, the threat originates from the wide disparities in regional incomes that are themselves a by-product in the equally wide disparities in educational achievements and employable skills. Nevertheless, Turkish society retains important elements of resilience. This is the end result of a flawed and yet very real experience with multi-party democracy for over seven decades. At the same time Turkey is a failed accession state and the frustrations as well as the acrimony generated by this hapless state of affairs will have implications for any other EU engagement strategy with Ankara. It is therefore necessary to build the resilience action plan as a component of the formal Turkey–EU agenda, which is broader than the accession track. The soon-to-be-launched negotiations for the modernization of the EU–Turkey Customs Union provide a timely and useful option.

Read Full Text

This report was originally published by the International Affairs Institute.

Sinan Ülgen
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe
Sinan Ülgen
EUPolitical ReformEuropeTürkiyeMiddle EastIran

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie China

  • Commentary
    China’s Evolving Economic and Security Role in the Middle East

    The advantage that China has over other global powers, especially America, is that its foreign policy is closely aligned with those of many of the Middle Eastern countries.

      Jin Liangxiang, Maha Yahya, Hesham Alghannam

  • Commentary
    China’s Rising Influence in the Middle East

    Transactional relationships are stable but can be shallow.

      • +1

      Paul Haenle, Maha Yahya, Benjamin Ho, …

  • Commentary
    Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Has Jeopardized the China-EU Relationship

    “It’s not so clear how we’re going to get out of this.”

      Paul Haenle, Philippe Le Corre

  • Commentary
    What the Russian War in Ukraine Means for the Middle East

    It’s about managing oil prices, bread prices, and strategic partnerships.

      • +8

      Amr Hamzawy, Karim Sadjadpour, Aaron David Miller, …

  • Commentary
    The Race of Chinese Companies in the 5G Competition

    With the potential of enabling not only significant economic growth but also the innovation of critical technologies in various fields, both the United States and China view 5G as one of the key influencing factors in the “great power competition.”

      Lyu Jinghua

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie China
Carnegie China logo, white
  • Research
  • About
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie China
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.