External differentiation through network governance: the case of Turkey

The stalemate in Turkey’s EU accession process, on the one hand, and the indispensability of policy coordination between the EU and Turkey given complex, issue-specific interdependencies, on the other, impel further analysis of the explanatory value of external differentiation for the trajectory of EU-Turkey relations. Taking into consideration the overarching unfavorable macropolitical setup of the EU-Turkey relationship which is epitomized by a progressively growing estrangement between both parties coupled with increased macro-institutional fragility, how can policy convergence between the EU and Turkey be promoted outside the accession scheme? This paper argues that external differentiated integration through more horizontal, sector-driven and inclusive modes of network governance allows for extraterritorial rule and norm promotion in Turkey by enabling a more favorable working environment at the operational level and by passably de-coupling Turkey’s external differentiated integration with the EU from the troubled macro-politics of the EU-Turkey relationship. Following a brief overview of the new complexities of the EU-Turkey relationship and its macro-institutional setting, the paper conceptualizes transgovernmental networking and its key drivers. In a next step, it scrutinizes the extent and limits of Turkey’s external differentiated integration with the EU via network governance in the following three policy areas featuring dissimilar patterns of interdependence, politicization and domestic governance by also drawing on semi-structured interviews: energy, asylum, and environment.