Democratic Peace Theory and Greek-Turkish Relations in the Context of the European Union

Abstract

The European Council Helsinki Summit marked the initiation of the rapprochement procedure between Turkey and Greece, a dyad that for many decades was a source of instability in the Eastern part of Europe. After 1999, Greece abandoned the "Cold War rhetoric" in its relations with Turkey and shifted its foreign policy towards a more moderate stance by raising its veto regarding Turkey's accession in the European Union (EU). Greece's new foreign policy has many common elements with the Democratic Peace Theory of international relations. Hence, this thesis asks the following question: do the Greco-Turkish peaceful relations from 1999 until today fit the Democratic Peace Theory? By examining the three pillars of the theory, namely economic interdependence, consolidation of democracy and common participation in intergovernmental organization, the thesis concludes that the Democratic Peace Theory cannot explain the Greco-Turkish rapprochement procedure initiated by Greece after 1999.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA514394

Entities

People

  • Konstantinos Patsiaouras

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Rights
  • European Union
  • Foreign Relations
  • Globalization
  • Governments
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Conflicts
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • International Trade
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Science
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  • Recreation
  • Treaties

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies