Power, Discourse, and Governance: An Analysis of Türkiye’s Long Horizon Integrated Maritime Surveillance System
Power, Discourse, and Governance: An Analysis of Türkiye’s Long Horizon Integrated Maritime Surveillance System

Summary/Abstract: This article challenges the paradigmatic exclusivity of analyses of contemporary security technologies within International Relations and Security Studies. It develops and applies an integrated theoretical framework—synthesizing realist, securitization, and critical security studies perspectives—to examine Türkiye’s Long Horizon Integrated Maritime Surveillance System (LHIMSS). The study demonstrates that LHIMSS functions simultaneously as a realist instrument for asymmetric balancing, a securitized project legitimized by the Blue Homeland doctrine, and a critical governance vehicle that expands state control through a militarized “White Picture.” By revealing the recursive interplay among material capabilities, discursive threat-making, and transformative governance, the integrated approach provides a holistic understanding of how middle powers navigate contested sovereignty and hybrid security. The findings challenge IR scholarship to abandon rigid theoretical compartments and develop multi-causal models that capture the material, discursive, and biopolitical dimensions of 21st-century security.

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