European Union Growth in the 21st Century: a Focus on Turkey - Literature review Example

European Union growth in the 21st century: a focus on turkey A collective multilateral organization encompassing much of continental Europe and the surrounding region, the European Union (also known as the EU) was established in the aftermath of the incredibly tumultuous Second World War. Importantly, the European Union is a political and economic powerhouse which generates an estimated 30% of the planet’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). European integration, through the multilateral treaties which have led to the EU, exists in a variety of social, political and economic realms. Importantly, Europe has undergone significant changes in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 and this momentous event has had numerous ramifications for this multilateral organization. How should the EU expand? Should it continue to move eastward towards the former Yugoslavia or even expand towards Istanbul? Can a majority-Muslim country, i.e. Turkey, actually be European? Seeking to address these questions and many more with respect to European growth in the twenty-first century, the following will provide a comprehensive overview of a fascinating phenomenon. After the fall of communism and state-sponsored socialism at the end of the twenty-first century, the European Union has had to face many challenges dealing with integration and potential enlargement. This essay will explore the demand for eastern growth within the EU and look at the consequences, both intended and unintended of enlargement. The focus will be on Turkey and the ramifications of this controversial expansion. Following this, this essay will conclude with broad prescriptions for the future growth of what remains the most powerful multilateral political organization on the planet (Warleigh 2004). Introduction The European Union is a multilateral political body composed of a variety of different states, found throughout continental Europe and within the European region. While the composition of each member state differs from a social, political or economic perspective, the members of the EU share a common bond and common values such as pluralism, democracy and the belief is collective negotiation to achieve regional aims. Accordingly, multilateralism is an important feature of the modern EU, and numerous different interests – national as well as regional – are represented within an overarching transnational political framework. Significantly, the EU’s multilateral political framework insures that all member states subscribe to commonly-held principles such as democracy and at its base, capitalist economic development. Importantly, all member states of the European Union are bound together by their allegiance to European Union treaties. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union towards the end of the twentieth century and the ascendency of capitalist economic development as the hegemonic form of development on the European peninsula, membership in the EU is widely sought throughout the region. Accordingly, nearly all of the countries of Europe proper as well as Turkey, currently seek EU membership. While the antecedent to the European Union, the European Economic Community was only composed of five members (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany), there are now 27 countries in the EU. In alphabetical order they are, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and finally, the United Kingdom. What are the universal trends amongst this disparate group of states? (Warleigh 2004). As mentioned above, a unifying democratic political culture and capitalist forms of economic development remain important bonds which all member states of the EU share. While the ancient Greeks devised the concept of democracy many centuries ago, the belief in democratic governance was severely challenged during the twentieth century when authoritarian political movements, both fascism and communism – expressed by Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany and the Soviet Union respectfully – gained adherents throughout Europe. Accordingly, the victory of the Allies in World War II as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, emphatically demonstrated that political democracy and pluralism, as opposed to authoritarianism, would remain the most important political ideology within Europe. Significantly, liberal democracy today is a unifying trend among all of the countries of the EU and those wishing to join this multilateral organization must subscribe to the tenants of liberal democratic governance. Ascension is the process by which enlargement occurs and where new members are admitted into the EU club. Although the precursor to the European Union started out with only 6 states, there are now 27 member states – more countries are in the arduous ascension process to one day obtain full membership – and as a reflection of the diversity within a United Europe, there are presently 23 official languages of this multilateral body. This essay now turns to the most controversial case for expansion, Turkey, and explores the merits of its case to join the EU. Turkey in the Europe Union? As the former seat of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Republic remains a potential candidate for membership in the European Union. There are many obstacles to Turley’s candidacy and they relate to history, geography, religion and politics. The last point is the most pressing and due to a variety of internal/domestic political factors, Turkey faces important challenges in its quest to be admitted to the European Union. Seeking to establish obstacles to Turley’s candidacy for European Union membership, the following will provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of the reasons why Turkey’s membership request is unlikely to succeed. We will explore the research of contemporary scholars and compare and contrast their perspectives on the future EU enlargement possibilities for the Turkish Republic. Seeking to explore the future possibilities for the inclusion of Turkey within a united Europe, Ali Tekin takes an enlightened view of Turkey today and argues that the relationship will be mutually beneficial for both parties. While emphasizing the positive attributes of Turkey’s membership on the respective countries of Europe, in “Future of Turkey–EU relations: a civilizational discourse”, Tekin does admit to a few obstacles facing Turkey today. In fact, when looking at the history and geography of Turkey, this country has never been apart of the European community nor does it reside on the European peninsula. Straddling Europe and Asia, Turkey encountered Islam more than twelve hundred years ago and he reports that 99.8% of Turks self-identify as Muslims. Europe has historically been the seat of Christianity (including the Papal, Anglican and Orthodox branches) and home to a diverse Christian tradition. A majority Muslim state – although proudly secular in its institutions of governance – would severely upset the delicate religious balance with the European Union – and Turkey would remain a very different domestic country relative to other EU states. Turkey would then become the only Muslim-majority state in the EU, a region which has struggled with Islamic fundamentalism in recent time, including the post-9/11 London bombings perpetuate by homegrown Islamic terrorists and the Madrid train bombings of 2003 in which Moroccan extremists carried out the most deadly terrorist attack since fateful morning on September 11th 2001. In addition, Turkey’s recent challenges with its devout Muslim population, including the widely-reported headscarf affair, show just how precarious the introduction of a Muslim-majority country would be to the overall coherence of the EU. Despite these obvious shortcomings, the author of this study sees positives aspects with Turkey’s admittance, most assuredly through a civilizational dialogue between the Christian countries of the West and the Muslim world. Turkey, he argues, can be a catalyst for such a dialogue (Tekin 2005). Although there are a variety of historically reasons for denying Turkey’s membership in the European Union, its candidacy may be denied on the grounds that its culture is politically incompatible with that of the current member states of the EU. In “Human Rights and Democratization in Turkey in the Context of EU Candidature” Rumford explores the challenges facing Turkey in fully integrating the important traditions of the West into its political framework. These traditions include democratic governance, the protection of human rights, freedom of speech, assembly and the rule of law. Although Turkey is a democratic country with a strong secular traditions since the days of the founder of the Republic, Attaturk, democracy in Turkey has had to deal with an interventionist and activist military which has consistently over the years stepped into the political arena and undertaken political coups. Accordingly the first military coup by the armed forces took place in 1960 against the Democratic Party and another coup against the Party was undertaken in 1980. After this second coup, martial law was imposed and there were reports of flagrant human rights abuses at the hands of the armed forces. In addition to a legacy of military intervention in the political sphere, Suleyman Demirel first became Prime Minister in 1965 and went on to hold this position a total of seven times. This is hardly representative of a fair and competitive political process. Seeing human rights protection as a European value with broad implications for the admittance of Turkey in the EU, Rumford argues that incompliance with the protection of this right is a major hindrance to Turkey’s full inclusion within the European community (Rumford 2001). A lack of respect for the democratic norms of modern society is an important obstacle for Turkey and an issue which is explored by authors Schimmelfennig, Engert and Knobel in “Costs, Commitment and Compliance: The Impact of EU Democratic Conditionality on Latvia, Slovakia and Turkey”. Using a cross-comparative analysis, these authors weigh the pros and cons of democratic conditionality on introductory members of the EU. The challenges associated with maintaining these democratic standards are great and Latvia, Slovakia and Turkey must each overcome significant domestic hurdles in order to fully integrate themselves into the European Community of nations. As mentioned earlier, a respect for the democratic rules of the game has been noticeably lacking and Turkey has been subject to frequent armed forces intervention in the political process. As an example of the military’s strong arm in the politics of the nation, in 1998 the Welfare Party, the largest party in the Turkish parliament at the time, was banned. The military forced this party out of office and was responsible for the ban. This event was described as a “soft coup”, thus bringing the total of military-inspired coups in the country over the past forty years to three (Schimmelfennig, Engert and Knobe 2004). In addition to a democratic culture argument, from a human rights standpoint abuses have also been alleged with respect to the military’s response to the Kurdish insurgency led by the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) as well as in its role in the domestic conflict of recent EU inductee Cyprus. Addressing these concerns and exploring the challenges Turkey presently faces with respect to the Kurdish insurgency, the treatment of former PKK head Abdullah Ocalan and its response to terror Ersel Aydinli explores the internal challenges Turkey has experienced in combating terror. How can the need to fight extremism and violence be reconciled with a need to promote democracy and human rights? This balance, the author argues, is difficult to achieve and Turkey’s treatment of alleged terrorists has presented an important obstacle to future EU membership. In addition to relatively recent human rights concerns, in May of 2001 the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of violating the rights of Greek Cypriots during its occupation of northern Cyprus more than three and a half decades ago (Ersel Aydinli 2002). Concluding Remarks The European Union remains one of the most economically and politically powerful organizations on the planet. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the European Union has managed to integrate the former socialist countries of the Eastern block into its sphere of influence and has demonstrated that it can successfully grow to achieve its aims. Will the EU continue to expand eastward and include Turkey into its ranks? As has been shown, the democratic credentials of Turkey pose serious obstacles in its quest to achieve eventual EU membership. In addition to being a Muslim majority state, the former seat of the Ottoman Empire and having a very different history from the rest of Europe, Turkey also lacks the necessary political requirements for membership. A legacy of military involvement in the politics of the nation, coups and political repression thus make Turkey an undesirable candidate for eventual EU membership. Additionally, gross human rights violations, including against its Kurdish minority as well as against the Greek Cypriots in northern Cyprus, solidify the argument that Turkey is a very poor candidate future EU membership. Thus, while the European Union will continue to expand in the 21st century, welcoming Turkey into the fold of liberal, democratic European states will do more to hurt the EU than help it. Bibliography Almond, G.A, Dalton, R.J & Powel Jr., G.B. European Politics Today, 2nd edition. New York: Longman, 2002. Alvarez, J.E. “International Organizations: Then and Now”. The American Journal of International Law (2006), 100(2), p. 324-347. Aydinli, Ersel. “Between Security and Liberalization: Decoding Turkeys Struggle with the PKK.” Security Dialogue, 33, 2 (2002): 209-225. Bereuter, D. “NATO and the EU Security Strategy”. Oxford Journal on Good Governance. (2004, 1,1), p.21-27. Fierke K.M., Wiener A. “Constructing Institutional Interests: EU and NATO Enlargement”, Journal of European Public Policy. (1999), p.721-742. Preston, Christopher. Enlargement and Integration in the European Union. New York: Routledge, 1997. Rumford C. “Human Rights and Democratization in Turkey in the Context of EU Candidature.” Journal of European Area Studies, 9, 1 (1 May 2001): 93-105. Schimmelfennig, Frank, Engert, Stefan, Knobel, Heiko. “Costs, Commitment and Compliance: The Impact of EU Democratic Conditionality on Latvia, Slovakia and Turkey.” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 41, 3(June 2004): 495-518. Tekin, Ali. “Future of Turkey–EU relations: a civilisational discourse. “ Futures37, 4 (May 2005): 287-302. Tilly, Charles. European Revolutions. London: Blackwell, 1993. Warleigh, A. European Union: The Basics. New York, Routledge, 2004. Wood, S. and Quaisser, W. The New European Union: Confronting the Challenges of Integration. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 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