Browsing by Author "Onursal, Recep"

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Citation - WoS: 7
Citation - Scopus: 9
Quest for Regional Hegemony: the Politics of Ontological Insecurity in the Saudi-Iran Rivalry
(Sage Publications Inc, 2022) Adisonmez, Umut Can; Onursal, Recep; Oztig, Lacin Idil
The rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia has been unfolding over a long period, influencing the politics and conflicts in the Middle East. The dynamics, content, and form of the rivalry have changed dramatically following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Sectarianism is frequently seen as the constitutive element of the conflict between the two countries. This paper brings a new light into the literature on the nature of the evolving Saudi-Iran rivalry. Specifically, it explains Saudi Arabia's ideational balancing and threat perception against Iran by highlighting the ontological security narratives under which the Saudi-Iran rivalry evolves. In doing so, it draws on the fatwas (i.e., religious opinions), issued by Saudi scholars, as an empirical object of investigation, and explores how they constitute and reconstitute Saudi Arabia's ontological security narratives. In this way, this work critically explains the ontological security regime in Saudi Arabia and the nature of the political struggle and antagonism between the two countries.
Citation - WoS: 15
Citation - Scopus: 18
Strong, but Anxious State: the Fantasmatic Narratives on Ontological Insecurity and Anxiety in Turkey
(Uluslararasi Iliskiler Konseyi Dernegi, 2022) Adisonmez, Umut Can; Onursal, Recep
The political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey is hegemonic. What is central to this discourse is Sevresphobia: the idea that Turkey is surrounded by internal and external enemies who are ready to destroy it. This article aims to explain why the political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey sustains itself over time and how it captures the collective mode of being. The article argues that fantasmatic narratives play an important role in maintaining the hegemonic discourse and governing collective anxiety. First, fantasmatic narratives simplify the socio-political space by offering a comforting explanation for the ongoing insecurities and making anxiety tolerable. Second, they act as an ideological force by keeping the political dimension of the discourse on ontological security at bay. Drawing on the Post-foundational Theory of Discourse (PTD) and Ontological Security Theory (OST), the article problematizes and analyzes the political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey.