Turkey-European Union Relations Dilemmas, Opportunities, and Constraints

Turkish membership to the European Union generates significant debate among politicians, policy-makers, and academicians. At the same time, the issue of Turkish membership carries challenges for European Union policy-making as well as for theories of integration. This volume comes at a timely interval when there is a need to better understand the Turkish accession to the European Union. The purpose of this volume is twofold. First, it seeks to examine the political background of the European Union-Turkey enlargement negotiation process, and second, it aims at assessing the current strengths and weaknesses of the Turkish candidature. By analyzing the obstacles in front of Turkish negotiations, it aims to uncover the road in front of Turkey's European Union membership. The volume focuses on political, social, and economic issues relevant to the accession process and assesses the transformation at these different levels in line with the negotiations.

Meltem Muftuler-Bac is professor of international relations and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair at Sabanci University, Turkey Yannis Stivachtis is the director of the International Studies Program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and head of the Politics and International Affairs Research Unit of ATINER (Athens Institute for Education and Research)