Unexpected Persistence Amidst Enlargement Stasis: Usages of Europe in Turkey's Nuclear Energy Debate

Abstract

Recent studies on European Union (EU) Enlargement have emphasised the importance of usages of 'Europe' by domestic actors as a necessary condition for the EU to have an impact on domestic politics. We study the usages of Europe in the critical case of Turkey's nuclear energy policy. We analyse the narratives and actions of domestic actors in Turkey to identify if they use 'Europe' (the EU and the idea of Europe). We reach the counter-intuitive finding of usages by both state and non-state actors which illustrates that usages of Europe can persist despite enlargement stasis in candidate states.