The Rise and Fall of Homegrown Concepts in Global IR: The Anatomy of 'Strategic Depth' in Turkish IR

In: All azimuth: a journal of foreign policy and peace, Band 11, Heft 2, S. 257-273

Abstract

Asymmetry of knowledge production in global international relations manifests
itself in a variety of forms. Concept cultivation is a foundational form that
conditions the epistemic hierarchies prevalent in scholarly encounters,
exchanges, and productions. The core represents the seemingly natural ecology
of concept cultivation, while the periphery appropriates the cultivated concepts,
relinquishing any claim of authenticity and indigeneity in the process. Nonetheless,
there have been cases of intellectual undertakings in the periphery to conceive,
formulate, and articulate conceptual frames of knowledge production. This paper,
first, discusses the fluctuating fortunes of homegrown concepts in the peripheral
epistemic ecologies. Second, it introduces the concept of 'strategic depth' as
articulated by the Turkish scholar Ahmet Davutoğlu and reviews its significance
for the formulation and implementation of recent Turkish foreign policy. Third,
it examines the causes of its recognition and acclaim in the local and global IR
communities subsequent to its inception. The paper contends that there have been
three fundamental sets of causes for the initial ascendancy of the concept. These
are categorized as contemplative causes, implementative causes, and evaluative
causes. Fourth, it traces the sources of its fall from scholarly grace. The paper
further asserts that the three fundamental sets of causes were also operational in
the eventual conceptual insolvency of strategic depth. The paper concludes by
addressing remedial measures to vivify concept cultivation in the periphery and
to conserve the cultivated concepts.