Turkish political science and European integration

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350176032000101307

Political science is a relatively new field of study in Turkey, partly because the social sciences in Turkey have traditionally taken a back seat compared to disciplines such as engineering, medicine and law. Another factor accounting for the late development of political science is its evolution as a byproduct of philosophy, law and history. Since political science traditionally had a low profile in general, it was to be expected that European integration would attract even less scholarly attention from Turkish political scientists. This article assesses the interest of Turkish political scientists in European integration in terms of the evolution of research agenda and teaching specializations. At the beginning of the 1990s, relatively little attention was paid to European integration among political scientists in terms of both their teaching and research agendas, however, since 1999 there has been an increased emphasis on both in Turkey. This article has argued that the nature of political science in Turkey, with its normative, legalistic character, and the institutionalization of the discipline at various institutions have been effective in marginalizing the study of European integration in Turkey.