Limits Of Relations With The West

The aim of this book is to understand the impact of the US transformation of world order on three neighbouring countries - Iran, Syria and Turkey - from 1990s to the 21st century. In this context, the contentious issues between US - European relations, which were derived primarily from differing approaches to the above-mentioned three countries as well as to international affairs in the Middle East, are the concerns of the book. The book tries to understand in what respect the threat perceptions of the three pivotal countries - Iran, Syria and Turkey - have been influenced by drastic changes which took place in the Middle East, by the conquest of Iraq and by Washington´s intention to give the system an all-American colouring by linking the September 11th terrorist attacks to its war on terrorism. As Buzan said, "in contemporary IR the international system constitutes a framework that makes it possible to understand how international relations cohere across time and space."1 Although there have been many shifts in the relative importance of the various structures within the system, according to Buzan and Little, one should not expect imminent transformations in the main shapes of structure. The current international system can be defined from different perspectives. For example, "seen through military-political lenses it might be unipolar (USA as last superpower), bipolar (USA and Russia emphasizing nuclear weapons) or diffuse (many regional great powers: Russia, China, India, Iran, South Africa etc.). If one adds in economic and political factors, the picture gets even more confused."2 However, when it comes to the US global war on terror, Washington oversimplifies the challenges Americans and its allies face and puts the relations with other countries in form of ´we´ and they´. The issue is that to what extent the European and other allies will be congruent with a broadened grand US strategy.