Alliance Management and Binding Strategy: Why the United States Has Failed to Prevent Turkey from Strategic Rapprochement with Russia

Abstract

Why has the United States (US) failed to prevent Turkey from pursuing strategic rapprochement with Russia? Over the last decade, the political, economic and military cooperation between Ankara-Moscow has caused serious concerns in Washington. An analysis based on Yasuhiro Izumikawa's theory of binding strategy explains why the US's coercion-based binding strategy has overall failed to effectively prevent Ankara's deepening strategic cooperation with Moscow. An explanation of the failure of the US's strategy towards Turkey is offered using a triangle model. The main reason for this failure is that the US pursued a coercion-based binding strategy towards Turkey against Russia's reward-based wedging strategy, coupled with a change in Turkey's security environment. This failure was further facilitated by the Turkish political elite's quest for strategic autonomy.