KÜRESEL POLİTİK EKONOMİ

When the literature is examined, it is seen that the emergence of International Political Economy (IPE) is started in the 1970s and it is emphasized that it has a short history in the field of social sciences. However, it is clear that the concept of political economy, derived from the merger of two words in ancient Greek, was first used by Aristotle. This situation proves that the political economy is not a new concept, but a pre-existing concept that was realized again in the 1970s.

The concept of political economy, based on the words “polis” (independent city state) and “oikonomike” (management of assets) in ancient Greek, means the management of a country’s people or state.

While explaining the political economy, Gilpin emphasizes that economic and political events unite and create many problems.

The important point here is that mercantilism that emerged by the influence of Machiavelli between the 15th and 18th centuries dominated the international arena. In this period, when the economy and politics were handled separately, the issues such as state, state sovereignty, protectionist policies, limitation of imports and encouragement of exports, and the fact that states did not interfere in each other’s internal affairs have come to the fore and spread to Continental Europe.

Adam Smith, with his work “Wealth of Nations”, opposed mercantilist thought. He advocated the self-regulating market, foreseeing the reduction of the role of the state in the market and highlighted the concepts of division of labor, labor efficiency, capital accumulation, private property, and free trade. In this period where economics and politics were discussed together, significant changes were experienced in economic, cultural and political life with the adoption of these concepts by economists and politicians.

The world trade has been interrupted due to the world wars, the willingness of states to survive, the desire to protect the borders of the states, political and economic conflicts between the states and similar reasons. This situation revealed the necessity of re-activating and stabilizing world trade. America’s Bretton Woods (1944) system has fulfilled this requirement. With the creation of this system, the “Pax Americana” period, which will last until the beginning of the 1970s, started. Throughout this process, politics and economy have been tried to be handled separately.

From this point of view, we can list the main approaches to help us explain IPE as Mercantilism/Realism, Liberalism and Marxism, and alternative approaches as Constructivism and Feminism. There are some concepts associated with these five theories. In the Realist approach, nation states, power, survival, security, and anarchy; in the Liberal approach, the individual, capital flows, open market, and invisible hand; in the Marxist approach, class, interest, exploitation, bourgeois, and proletariat; in the Constructivist approach, idea, norm, discourse, belief, and structure-maker relationship; and in the Feminist approach, concepts such as gender equality, sexist exploitation, and the end to oppression come to the fore (Al, 2015: 147-148). Since the theories of IPE are included as a separate section in the second part of this book, the theories here are explained in a short and concise way.

In the Realist approach, nation states, power, survival, security, and anarchy; in the Liberal approach, the individual, capital flows, open market, and invisible hand; in the Marxist approach, class, interest, exploitation, bourgeois, and proletariat; in the Constructivist approach, idea, norm, discourse, belief, and structure-maker relationship; and in the Feminist approach, concepts such as gender equality, sexist exploitation, and the end to oppression come to the fore.

According to liberals, national wealth depends on production and economic development. In this theory which adds the concept of “invisible hand” to the literature, the duty of the state; on the one hand, to give the markets as much freedom as possible (minimum level of state intervention) and on the other hand to prevent the dangers that may come into the market with international rules and regulations. Thus, the formation of the market can be achieved in a free and competitive environment.

Invisible hand: In the market mechanism, each decision-making unit acts to maximize the self-interest instead of the benefit of society, hence the excess of demand or supply is eliminated and the market is balanced.

Due to the Pastor Brunson Incident experienced past year, Turkey has its share of the threats and sanctions from the United States. Before discussing the background of the issue and the US efforts to direct Turkey to act as it wants through economic sanctions, it is necessary to briefly analyze the Pastor Brunson Incident between the two countries. Andrew Craig Brunson, the American Pastor of the Resurrection Church in Izmir, who had been living in Izmir for many years, was taken into custody in October 2016 following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. However, he was arrested in December 2016 on charges of being a member of the Fethullah Gulen Community while he was waiting to be returned at the repatriation centre in the Bornova district of Izmir. The pastor, whose cases continue from December 2016 to July 2018, tried on charges such as membership of the terrorist organization, trying to end the Republic of Turkey, and providing secret information that should remain confidential for political and military espionage, rejected the charges, and, after nearly two years of imprisonment, his imprisonment was turned into a house arrest in July 2018.

The main characteristics of the International
Political Economy can be listed as follows (Al,
2015: 147):
• IPE is a branch of science in which the
economic system and the political system
work together.
• IPE is not a branch of science that can only
be studied theoretically.
• With globalization, the development
process of IPE has accelerated.
• Due to the large number of terms it covers
and uses, it covers a wide area that can be
understood with different approaches.
• IPE has an autonomous structure.
• The emergence and development of
IPE as a separate discipline has led
to the establishment of international
organizations

This situation revealed
the necessity of re-activating and stabilizing world
trade. America’s Bretton Woods (1944) system has
fulfilled this requirement. With the creation of
this system, the “Pax Americana” period, which
will last until the beginning of the 1970s, started

institutions (International Monetary Fund (IMF),
World Bank (WB) and the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)) established under
the Bretton Woods system (Ateş & Gökmen,
2013: 49; Duman, 2002: 2).

we can list
the main approaches to help us explain IPE as
Mercantilism/Realism, Liberalism and Marxism,
and alternative approaches as Constructivism and
Feminism. There are some concepts associated with
these five theories. In the Realist approach, nation
states, power, survival, security, and anarchy;

in the
Marxist approach, class, interest, exploitation,
bourgeois, and proletariat; in the Constructivist
approach, idea, norm, discourse, belief, and
structure-maker relationship; and in the Feminist
approach, concepts such as gender equality, sexist
exploitation, and the end to oppression come to
the fore

In the historical
process, different terms such as “nationalism”,
“economic nationalism”, “mercantilism”,
“statism” and “new protectionism” were used
in different scientific studies instead of realism
(Gilpin, 1987: 31).

Liberalism is the theory that emerged to respond
to the facts and events that the security-centered and
nation-state-oriented mercantilist/realist theory
cannot explain. Liberalism as a concept means
“liberty under the law”. Liberalism opposed
mercantilism, which states that human nature
is aggressive, offensive and skeptical, and argues
that there is a constructive relationship between
people competing for their own interests

Proletariat: Marx used proletariat to define
the working class that is working for a wage for
the profit of the employer class with the means
of production, which was used to define the
subclass of society until the 19th century

Marxism: Working classdominated markets in national and international areas

Economic Crisis: The decline in firms’
investments and consumer demand, high
rates of unemployment and therefore the
decline in living standards, and other similar
situations.