Abstract
The emerging middle powers in the Global South increasingly seek to produce domestic defence technologies. Drones in particular have become an important feature of middle power activism. The existing literature heavily focuses on the outcomes of the diffusion of drone technologies for regional and global politics. Yet not much has been written on the domestic impact of home-grown military technologies in middle powers. Therefore, we ask how the manufacture, export and use of drones promote regime survival, focusing on the case of Turkey. Turkey is a critical case because of its demonstrated middle power status and heavy investment in the development of armed drone platforms. Turkey’s drone programme and warfare have considerably raised the international profile of the country’s burgeoning defence sector. Yet we argue that the use of military tech also has boosting effects on domestic regime survival. This happens in three ways: promoting techno-nationalism and pride, strengthening border security and shaping regional order, and contesting global dynamics on the basis of national interests, security and self-sufficiency.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 724-743 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Third World Quarterly |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 10 Jan 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsAn earlier version of this paper was presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions Workshop on Authoritarian Regimes in Regional and Global Governance Institutions, on 19–22 April 2022 at the University of Edinburgh. We are grateful to workshop organisers Maria Debre and Daniëlle Flonk and the participants of the workshop as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and feedback.
Keywords
- Turkey
- Drone
- Defence technology
- middle power
- regime survey