Turkey’s approach to the Arab spring revisited: political field and foreign policy in the AKP era

Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, this article sheds light on the relationship between the AKP's foreign policy toward the Middle East and its twenty-year rule in Turkey. It argues that Turkish foreign policy can be understood by looking at the evolving strategies adopted by AKP in the political field. In the early 2010s, the AKP emphasized conservative social values, neo-liberal reformism, and support for the Arab Spring to accumulate political capital. However, as the expected regional change did not materialize, and as domestic legitimacy eroded, the party has resorted to an increasingly nationalist discourse to preserve its dominant position.