This series aims to combine several international relations theories with topical and current world events. Questions are raised about democracy, privacy, terrorism, conflicts, feminism, foreign policy and more. For the first two lectures, Erkli will join Erdogan. They will hold an engaging and lively debate with one another and with the audience. While one side explains an argument, the other questions it with provocative and grounded criticisms and arguments. This series involves lots of interaction between the speakers and participants.

The individual lectures/debates
1. Structural Realism: Foreign Policies of Russia, China and the USA: A Battle of Giants? (31 Oct)
In this first lecture two lecturers will discuss one of the most debated and controversial theories of International Relations: Structural Realism. Often blamed for being a very state-centric and for reinforcing militarization and power structures, this approach is still open to further research and applications. The lecture will first give information about this theory. Then it will discuss the foreign policies of three Great Powers: Russia, USA and China. We will analyse the foreign policies of and relations between three powers and discuss the possibility of a direct clash between them.

2. Liberalism: the End of Liberal World Order? (7 Nov)
No set of theories have been more relevant for describing the way in which the international system is organized and how it operates than what is broadly referred to today as 'Liberalism'. Moving forward with the premise that individual is inherently cooperative and this cooperation fosters healthy regulating institutions to mitigate the otherwise complex chaotic world, Liberal theories seemed to have prevailed over the more pessimistic, cynical narratives of the realist theories. Immensely successful projects such as the EU seemed to only vindicate Liberal assumptions, while the erosion of borders and lack of wars between democracies heralded an era of peace and prosperity never witnessed before or since. However, a rude awakening has jolted much of the liberal advocates and has shattered their hubris and sense of complacency as the reemergence of nationalism, trade wars, and rise of illiberal democracies festered beneath the surface only to explode onto our news headlines with wars and popular support for dissolving liberal projects. Will Liberalism survive these challenges and--if not--what could be salvaged from its successes? In this lecture we will ask whether the liberal and democratic world order is ending. Can Liberalism and its assumptions about international politics (still) explain world politics? Are liberal values still strong and resistant to the counter forces? 

3. Post-Colonialism and Green Theory: Colonialization and Marketing of People and the Environment (14 Nov)
This lecture is about a couple of significant issues and developments taking place in the world and affecting everybody to a great degree. In this provocative lecture, lecturer will discuss Post-colonial and Green theories of International Relations. By combining the assumptions of two theories (and getting some inspiration from the critical approaches such as Frankfurt School), she will analyse the current world politics, its economic-social-cultural-racial structures and the future of our earth. She will ask difficult questions such as: are people put into different categories and segregated from each other (such as refugees)? Is our environment dying and can we reverse this process? Is colonialization over or has it changed its appearance?

4. Political Economy: is it All about the Economy, Stupid? (21 Nov)
In this lecture, lecturer will discuss several International Relations theories linked to the political economy. Some of these theories are about liberalism whereas some others are more critical such as dependency theories or neo-Marxist approaches. This lecture will look at the current world with economic glasses and analyse important issues such as development in Global South, recession in North, rising powers such as China and India, emerging new actors such as Multi National Corporations and the control and power of the global economic elite on politics.  

5. Post-Structuralism: Does Maximum Security Actually Mean and Bring Insecurity? (28 Nov)
This lecture will be about perhaps the most controversial approach in International Relations: Post-structuralism. This approach is about language and  hegemonic relations in our world. It also discusses how and why the discourse of ‘national security’ constructs an ‘enemy’ and ‘threat. In this framework, this lecture will cover a group of problematic issues such as security discourses used by states, surveillance, control and limitations in liberties and freedoms in various forms. These issues will be analysed from a post-structural perspective especially inspired by Foucault and Agamben. The lecture will discuss the current forms of governance and counter forces against it. In this sense, this lecture will be a nice closing for all lectures so far.