End of jouissance, start of resentment: a Lacanian critical security approach to Turkey’s relations with the West

Abstract

ABSTRACT Believing that the emotional turn in IR would benefit from psychoanalysis greatly, this study applies the Lacanian concept of ‘jouissance’, the emotional IR concept of ‘resentment’, and ‘emancipation’ as part of the Welsh School in IR to Turkey’s relations with the EU, by pointing out a visible move from former to the latter since the Helsinki Summit in 1999 until today. As known, jouissance refers to physical and/or intellectual joy, whereas resentment roots in being treated unfairly. By dividing the period mentioned above into four, 1999–2005; the period of jouissance, 2005–2011; end of jouissance, 2011–2016; transition to resentment, and 2016–2023; emancipation, the paper analyzes leader discourses of both sides through EDA, the current President of Turkey; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and the leaders of the European Council and European Commission, to unravel the transition. For Turkey, the AKP government utilised discourses that transitioned from jouissance to emancipation, especially after 2005, whereas the EU discourses started with jouissance and moved onto emancipation and then neutrality. As the recipient side of the accession, the EU discourses remain on the technical accession negotiations and the issue of migration after 2011 rather than engaging in any emotional attachment to Turkey’s membership process.