Authoritarian Alliances - Understanding the Russia-Turkey Relationship: Exploring the Link Between Political Regime and Peace

Abstract

The thesis analyses Turkey's and Russia's foreign relations with each other based on the theoretical premise that democratic peace can explain similar behaviour among authoritarian regimes as well. The thesis explores Russia's and Turkey's distinct forms or authoritarianism, before employing a detailed qualitative content analysis on official documents from Russia's and Turkey's presidents and foreign ministries. The readers will attain a broader understanding of democratic theory and the link between political regimes and peaceful relations. Keywords Democratic Theory; Russia; Turkey; Political Regime; Qualitative Content Analysis; MAXQDA