Honor as Foreign Policy: The Case of Israel, Turkey, and theMavi Marmara

Abstract

While the role of honor as a war‐generating factor has been widely discussed in International Relations (IR) scholarship, there is insufficient theoretical and empirical research that identifies and conceptualizes the influence of honor on foreign policy decision making. It is the argument of this article that honor plays a dramatic role not only in causing conflicts but also in negotiations to resolve them. To illustrate this point, the article examines the way Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's conception of honor shaped Israel's foreign policy toward Turkey following the Mavi Marmara flotilla crisis of May 2010. Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done.˜William Shakespeare, Richard II