Cappadocia Journal of Area Studies

The December 2022 issue of our journal includes six different articles. In this issue, we present four research articles and two publication reviews, one of which is historical, three of which are on current issues, and one is in biography format.

The first research article, authored by Hikmet Kuran, deals with the concept of ecofascism. In this article, which argues that Germany had a unique character in linking racism and nature conservation in the past, it is emphasized that both a strong ecological sensitivity and one of the most terrible experiences witnessed throughout history are observed in the same geography. Kuran claims that some authors put forward data showing that there is a theoretical relationship between these two phenomena, but that a different conclusion will be reached if the situation is questioned and analysed. Thus, Kuran's work focuses on the history of fascist ideology and green ideas in far-right politics. According to him, revealing these wrong associations will help to better understand today's far-right thought that guides political parties, ideologies, social movements and political ecologies.

The third article, written by Ahmet Sapmaz, deals with the relations between Turkey and the United Kingdom. According to Sapmaz, who argues in his article that the political and economic relations between the two countries, which have been going on for many years, have gained a new momentum today, more and more cooperation will be established in the fields of security and defense industry in the near future. As the reason for this, Sapmaz points out the problems Turkey has had with the USA and the EU in the recent period. Of course, the UK is also in search of new ones due to its independent and global foreign and security policy that it started to follow after Brexit.

The authors of the fourth article, Bilal Karabulut and Şafak Oğuz, in their writings on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which plays an active role in the economy, energy and security fields in the Eurasian region, state that the Organization has gradually increased its power and influence, but there are uncertainties about its future effectiveness. One of the questions that the authors seek to answer is what will be the position and function of the Organization, depending on whether the cooperation between Russia and China continues or a competitive relationship is established in the near future. Another is how this competition/cooperation uncertainty will affect the Turkish Republics in the region. Oğuz and Karabulut claim that a more stable structure was formed in the region and the Organization became stronger during the periods when Russia and China were in harmony of interests.

The author of the fifth article, Ahmet Çelik, examines the changing African strategy in the US foreign policy from the Cold War to the present. Çelik argues that during the Cold War years, Africa was seen as a region that should be protected from rivals in the American foreign policy, but with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the interest in Africa decreased. However, the September 11 attacks, newly discovered energy reserves in Africa and the increasing presence of rival great powers in Africa caused a renewed interest in the continent of the USA. Sapmaz claims that this revived interest is not sustainable and has recently lost its qualification of being the most important trade partner of Africa to China and the EU.

The format of the final research paper is the biography. Its author Özgür Nuhut deals with the life of Chinese scientist, educational philosopher, diplomat and politician Dr. Hu Shih. In this article, Nuhut not only told the life story of Hu, who has a very important place in Chinese and Taiwanese culture, but also revealed his contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the whole world along with China.

The first review in the book reviews section belongs to Burcu Ermeydan. Ermeydan provides a comprehensive review of the compilation book The Unintended Consequences of Interregionalism: Effects on Regional Actors, Societies and Structures, edited by Elisa Lopez-Lucia and Frank Mattheis, and published in 2021. The second book review was done by Müjgan Işık. The publication reviewed by Işık is the book titled Modern Korea: All That Matters, written by Andrew Salmon and published in 2020.