Managing The US-Turkey Security Relationship: Structured Transactionalism Within A Dual Framework

Abstract

This article identifies key elements of a potential new strategic framework to manage the security relationship between Turkey and the United States. Despite both being NATO members, their relationship is increasingly transactional, with shared interests on some issues, potential for convergence on others, and substantial disagreement on quite a few. Four problems breed their widening strategic divergence: an obsolete framework for governing the relationship, a trust deficit, weakened institutional ownership, and weakened popular support. The main challenge facing Turkey and the United States is to find a new modus operandi between the old strategic partnership framework and pure transactionalism. To this end, this article proposes "structured transactionalism" as a flexible yet institutionalized form of bilateral engagement to supplement the NATO core of the US-Turkish security relationship.