Survey of International Relations Faculty in Turkey: Research, Teaching and Views on the Discipline-2009

One of the major weaknesses of the studies on the development of International Relations (IR) curricula in Turkey is the lack of systematic data on the characteristics, history, development and current status of the IR academia. In order to reveal research practices of academicians, and how international relations is taught and how IR scholars perceive the discipline, an online survey was conducted among the faculty members of the IR Departments in Turkey in June-July 2009. Scholars were asked to answer 55 questions about the IR curriculum, courses, research subjects, and major theoretical approaches, political attitudes, funds, language and types of publication, academic journals, universities, the involvement of academy in policy-making process and non-academic intellectual activities. The results of the survey indicates that IR studies in Turkey seems to be foreign policy oriented, focus on Turkey and the big power policies and the discipline is under the influence of Realism.