The National Security Council and Foreign Policy

Abstract

National security is an ambiguous concept that defies description. Such ambiguity justifies an extremely broad understanding of the concept with blurred boundaries. The National Security Council, NSC is identified with the concept itself in Turkey. That is why it is argued that the meaning of national security can be examined through the press releases of the Council. As the NSC makes recommendations on national security policies, it may be assumed that issues discussed in the NSC and addressed in its press releases pertain to national security policy and, accordingly, national security approach. Having realized this fact, the role of the NSC press releases in the formation of national policy discourse will be discussed throughout this study in order to identify the foreign policy perception of the NSC. The study employs methods of critical discourse analysis to put forward foreign policy issues addressed in the NSC statements through an examination its press releases. In the study, the definition of national security according to the NSC along with its foreign policy perception has been examined in three different periods since 1980.