Conscientious objection in Turkey: A case of emancipatory-critical security thinking and practice

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Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of International Relations, Turkey

Approval Date: 2013

Student: ERTUĞRUL EROL

Supervisor: ZANA AYŞE ÇITAK AYTÜRK

Abstract:

This thesis studies the issue of emancipatory agency in Critical Security Studies through the empirical case of Conscientious Objectors in Turkey. Trying to formulate a more practical way of looking into counter-hegemonic agency in Critical Security Studies, this study suggests the use of the concept of acts, and acts of dissidence in particular in a way to move away from the pre-occupation with great events and patterns to more daily ruptures and cracks in the given. The research frames Conscientious Objectors in Turkey as an agent of emancipatorycritical security thinking that aims to go beyond statist and militarist understandings of security and promote the idea of ‘security without militarism’and ‘security as emancipation’.