This paper makes a comparative case analysis between the independent status-seeking foreign policies of Gaullist France and Erdoğanist Turkey to provide a novel theoretical framework for...Show moreThis paper makes a comparative case analysis between the independent status-seeking foreign policies of Gaullist France and Erdoğanist Turkey to provide a novel theoretical framework for understanding the struggle for status within multilateral alliances. Using theories related to the role of “status” and “national role conceptions” in international relations, it analyzes how status-seeking foreign policies aimed at asserting French and Turkish great power status, led France and Turkey to clash with the Atlantic bloc’s hegemon – the United States – which attempted to curb their ambitions to protect its own status, leading both France and Turkey to adopt more confrontational status-seeking strategies, which affected their position within the Atlantic bloc and turned them into “rogue members”. Based on this comparison, this paper posits a “rogue member theory” that can help analyze the struggle for status within multilateral alliances between aspiring great powers and the alliance’s hegemonic state.Show less
