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Journals / İnsan ve Toplum / 2026 / Cilt: 16 Sayı: 3

Ontological Security and the European Union: Routines, Biographical Continuity, and the Search for Stability in a Changing World

Dünya Politikasında Biyografik Sürekliliğin Anlaşılmasi: AB'ye Ontolojik Güvenlik Merceğinden Bakmak

Meysune Yaşar(İSTANBUL MEDENİYET ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-9073-6350
Ahmet Özkan(Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi)0000-0001-9716-2687
Pages
67–87
Publication Date
2026-09-08
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

By integrating the internal and external dimensions of ontological security, this approach elucidates the interaction between the EU’s internal identity construction and its external strategic behavior, and offers an original contribution to the literature by conceptualizing the Union’s evolving role in global politics from an existential security perspective.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study analyses the European Union’s position in the international system through the lens of ontological security theory, with particular attention to how the Union constructs and sustains identity stability through routines and biographical continuity, as well as through its internal biography and relations with external actors.
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Key Findings & Data:The central argument of the study is that recent developments such as Brexit, the migration crisis, debates over strategic autonomy, and the war in Ukraine constitute not only institutional and political challenges but also profound ontological threats to the identity narrative historically constructed by the EU.
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Conclusion & Impact:By integrating the internal and external dimensions of ontological security, this approach elucidates the interaction between the EU’s internal identity construction and its external strategic behavior, and offers an original contribution to the literature by conceptualizing the Union’s evolving role in global politics from an existential security perspective.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Avrupa Birliği · Ontolojik Güvenlik · Rutinler

Abstract

This study analyses the European Union’s position in the international system through the lens of ontological security theory, with particular attention to how the Union constructs and sustains identity stability through routines and biographical continuity, as well as through its internal biography and relations with external actors. The central argument of the study is that recent developments such as Brexit, the migration crisis, debates over strategic autonomy, and the war in Ukraine constitute not only institutional and political challenges but also profound ontological threats to the identity narrative historically constructed by the EU. In this context, the tension between the EU’s self-positioning as a “normative power” and its increasingly assertive identity as a “strategic actor” generates vulnerabilities in the Union’s capacity to preserve its biographical continuity. The article draws on the contributions of Anthony Giddens, Jennifer Mitzen, and Brent J. Steele to the ontological security literature as its theoretical foundation and employs a qualitative, interpretive discourse analysis of official documents, political discourses, and policy texts that reflect the EU’s identity and foreign policy orientations. By integrating the internal and external dimensions of ontological security, this approach elucidates the interaction between the EU’s internal identity construction and its external strategic behavior, and offers an original contribution to the literature by conceptualizing the Union’s evolving role in global politics from an existential security perspective.

Özet

Bu çalışma, Avrupa Birliği’nin uluslararası sistemdeki konumunu ontolojik güvenlik kuramı perspektifinden ele almakta; özellikle rutinler ve biyografik süreklilik kavramları ile Birliğin iç biyografisi ve dış aktörlerle kurduğu ilişkiler üzerinden kimliksel istikrarını nasıl inşa ettiği ve sürdürdüğünü incelemektedir. Çalışmanın temel argümanı, Brexit, göç krizi, stratejik özerklik tartışmaları ve Ukrayna savaşı gibi son dönem gelişmelerin yalnızca kurumsal ve politik zorluklar değil, aynı zamanda AB’nin tarihsel olarak inşa ettiği kimlik anlatısına yönelen derin ontolojik tehditler teşkil ettiğidir. Bu bağlamda, AB’nin kendisini bir “normatif güç” olarak konumlandırması ile giderek daha iddialı hâle gelen “stratejik aktör” kimliği arasındaki gerilim, Birliğin biyografik sürekliliğini muhafaza etme kapasitesinde yapısal kırılganlıklar üretmektedir. Makale, ontolojik güvenlik literatüründe Anthony Giddens, Jennifer Mitzen ve Brent J. Steele’in katkılarını kuramsal zemin olarak benimsemekte; AB’nin kimliğini ve dış politika yönelimlerini yansıtan resmî belgeler, politik söylemler ve politika metinlerine dayalı nitel ve yorumsamacı bir söylem analizi yöntemi kullanmaktadır. Ontolojik güvenlik kuramının içsel ve dışsal boyutlarını bütünleştiren bu yaklaşım, AB’nin iç kimlik inşası ile dışsal stratejik davranışları arasındaki etkileşimi açıklamakta ve Birliğin küresel siyasetteki dönüşen rolünü varoluşsal güvenlik perspektifinden kavramsallaştırarak literatüre özgün bir katkı sunmaktadır

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Cite This Article

Yaşar, M., Özkan, A. (2026). Ontological Security and the European Union: Routines, Biographical Continuity, and the Search for Stability in a Changing World. İnsan ve Toplum, Cilt: 16 Sayı: 3, 67–87. https://doi.org/10.12658/M0804

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