EDITOR'S NOTE.

• Author: Ataman, Muhittin

Since the end of the Cold War, the world system has been going through a comprehensive transformation. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has remained the only superpower in the world, which began to behave as the only hegemon and accordingly pursued unilateral policies towards other international actors. The U.S. considers most global developments and international institutions established by the U.S. as detrimental for the continuation of its global hegemony; therefore, it started to undermine international norms, principles, and rules. The U.S. faces difficulties in maintaining order at both global and regional levels. Eventually, other global powers and regional actors began to follow different, if not conflictual, policy orientations and to play their own games.

As a regional actor who wants to play a global role, similar to other global actors, Turkey has been undertaking foreign policy initiatives under the AK Party government over the past two decades. However, there are too many global challenges as well as regional crises for Turkey to overcome. One such instance being that Turkey was forced to redefine its relations with its Western allies. More importantly, the U.S. has decided to redefine its relations with all of its partners, including Turkey. Therefore, one of the first challenges for Turkey to overcome is the resistance against the American otherization. Russia and China have created alternatives to international institutions established with the American initiative and invite other countries to be a part of these alternative institutions. Turkey also, at least tactically, chose to be a part of some of these platforms, a move which is not welcomed by Western countries. On the other hand, there are many regional crises such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Syrian crisis, and the state failures in the Middle East which have significant implications for the domestic and foreign policy of Turkey.

Turkey has recently begun to establish different institutions and initiated different processes in order to be able to undertake international responsibilities. Besides traditional actors, new institutions such as the Yunus Emre Institute (YEE, established in 2007), the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD, established in 2009), and the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB, established in 2010); had also restructured institutions such as the Turkish Crescent, Turkish...