Topic 6: The Effects of Globalization and the Dialogue with Europe 1985-2000

History:

• Perestroika and Glasnost.

• The end of the Cold War.

• The disintegration of the USSR and the emergence of Central Asian republics and new states in Eastern Europe.

• New polarizations.

• Developments in the middle east.

• Political developments in Turkey.

• The formation of the EU, and Turkey’s EU process.

Geography:

• The globalized world economy and its effects on Turkey: the flows of capital, labour and trade, the growth of inequality.

• Turkey’s membership of the European Customs Union, and EU policies towards Turkey.

Sociology:

• The political and cultural dimensions of globalization: the economic weakening of the nation-state; the sociology of terrorism; the search for new social identities; the growth of secularism, radicalism, and European efforts at socio-cultural integration.

• Popular culture, media communications.

• The growth of the Knowledge Society.