When the coronavirus outbreak started to spread around the world in February, there were a lot of debates about the pandemic's potential implications on world politics and the international system. Some thought that the outbreak will be transformative for the international system. According to them, the outbreak could change the balance of power in the world by changing the main dynamics. However, their viewpoints were challenged by a different group of scholars.

There are only three months left until the next U.S. presidential elections. This will be, without a doubt, one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history as it takes place amid a major global pandemic. Because of the uncertain trajectory of the outbreak, we still don't know how different states will conduct the elections.

Hagia Sophia’s conversion into a mosque sparked a debate over President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political agenda. Some observers believe that the administration has a to-do list yet to be completed. That claim boils down to the idea of Turkey’s gradual Islamization. Western media outlets, too, amplified that message by speculating that Erdoğan undid Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s legacy and revived the Ottoman Empire to bring back the caliphate. Others, out of excitement or sorrow over Hagia Sophia’s reopening, jumped on that bandwagon.

Some observers of Asia Pacific politics regard the region as the most unstable in the world – a sticking point that could lead to clashes between China and other countries. The increasing military activity of China in the South China Sea has raised concerns in a number of Western capitals. The U.S., too, has increased its own military activity in the region since the Barack Obama administration and made numerous statements on the status of the islands.

Turkey’s political parties are currently preoccupied with the proposed regulation of social media platforms, the legal status of Hagia Sophia, the parliamentary bill on multiple bar associations, the Istanbul Convention, the LGBT and Generation Z debates and the declining performance of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. In addition to those hot topics, there are also two permanent features: early elections and potential shifts between electoral alliances.

The analysis concludes by analyzing Turkey’s resurgent ties with the local Muslim communities in the Balkans (Albanians, Bosniacs, and Turks) and emphasizes Turkey’s contribution to regional peace and stability.

Germany's European Union presidency began yesterday. Given Chancellor Angela Merkel will quit politics in October 2021, she is likely to have a desire to make significant moves in the next six months to leave a lasting mark on European politics.

After a long COVID-19 interval, the two U.S. presidential candidates launched their campaigns and started to meet voters. Trump campaign prefers to organize large rallies in the battleground states, despite a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections there. Joe Biden's campaign, on the other hand, chose to organize small gatherings as per social distancing rules and broadcast the former vice president's remarks online.

What does Phase One Deal include? How have the U.S.-China Energy Relations changed over time? What is the impact of coronavirus on the deal? What does the future hold for U.S.-China energy relations?

There are many debates among researchers and scientists regarding a potential “second wave” of COVID-19 in the fall. There are discussions about if and when it can emerge and what the implication of this second wave will be to the world. The destruction and damage the first round of coronavirus already caused has generated major concerns among the international community about more of those grim scenarios. While taking precautions against a potential second wave, however, the countries that went through the first wave and flattened their curves over the last few months need to help the nations that are going through their first spike in numbers.

Ankara’s ability to reshape geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean has demonstrated the need for Europe to engage with Turkey under new terms

Tensions have once again peaked between Turkey and Greece over a number of traditional disputes involving the Aegean and Cyprus, as well as over recent disagreements regarding maritime jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean. Athens has attempted to invalidate Turkey’s November 2019 agreement with Libya to limit Turkish control over area in the Eastern Mediterranean spanning to the Gulf of Antalya. Athens believes it can pursue an unjust and maximalist policy with support from France, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Greek Cypriots. Given the recent dispute over the Aegean continental shelf, the Eastern Mediterranean has emerged as the main platform for a renewed rivalry between Turkey and Greece.

For scholars and observers, the return of the great power rivalry is the new normal in international relations over the last couple of years. The competition and rivalry between the U.S. and China are being closely watched by the international community. It is a well-known fact that the relations between these two major powers will be determinative of the future of world politics.

Almost 10 years ago a series of books and articles were written discussing the decline of the United States and what can happen after its fall from superpower status. The financial meltdown of 2008 together with the unending wars of Iraq and Afghanistan made many believe that the U.S. would not be able to come back from such major challenges.

The main focus of the politicians, academicians, researchers and intellectuals in the United States has been China for the last several decades as Americans believe China has the biggest potential to challenge the American hegemony. Publishing houses have been publishing books and academic journals have been covering research articles about China, a country that widely remains a mystery for most Americans; therefore, they closely follow developments about China to track not only political, military and economic developments but also its scientific and technological potential. In other words, there has been an increasing polarization between the U.S. and China, which has further accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.

There is an ongoing debate in Turkey over the potential exclusion of newly formed political parties, namely the Future Party (GP) and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), from a potential early election. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairman, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, already pledged to get those parties on the ballot by "loaning" parliamentarians to them.

Last week the White House presented its “Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China,” a report delivered to the members of the U.S. Congress in accordance with the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. It is almost an update from the administration in regard to the implementation of the policies cited in the National Security Strategy (NSS) of 2017.