Religious and Economic Soft Power in Ghana-Turkey Relations

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting paper on an understudied area of the world--Turkish relations with African countries. There is clearly something here, in terms of Turkish religious outreach.

I don't think this paper adequately demonstrates this is "soft power," however. Soft power is not just the role of culture and values in foreign policy, it is the ability of a state to get others to want what it wants. In the case of religious soft power this would be through religious outreach. The conception of religious soft power as religious groups using values to try and influence others seems only part of the story. This religious outreach could be an attempt by Turkey to build up religious soft power, or it could have other motivations. It may also not work. 

I think it would be fine to frame this as "Turkish religious soft power efforts." Or the study could expand to look at their impact, demonstrating they've granted influence to Turkey. Without either of these it feels incomplete.  

Author Response

Review 1

This is an interesting paper on an understudied area of the world--Turkish relations with African countries. There is clearly something here, in terms of Turkish religious outreach.

I don't think this paper adequately demonstrates this is "soft power," however. Soft power is not just the role of culture and values in foreign policy, it is the ability of a state to get others to want what it wants. In the case of religious soft power this would be through religious outreach. The conception of religious soft power as religious groups using values to try and influence others seems only part of the story. This religious outreach could be an attempt by Turkey to build up religious soft power, or it could have other motivations. It may also not work. 

I think it would be fine to frame this as "Turkish religious soft power efforts." Or the study could expand to look at their impact, demonstrating they've granted influence to Turkey. Without either of these it feels incomplete. 

I would like to thank the reviewer for these useful comments. In order to frame better Turkey’s influence in Ghana, the paper now discusses both religious soft power and economic soft power, which has led to a change in the title of the paper: “Religious and economic soft power in Ghana-Turkey relations”. The paper’s revised abstract now includes the following:

Turkey’s government seeks to apply both “religious soft power” and “economic soft power” to increase its influence in Ghana. Turkey’s religious soft power relationship with Ghana is exemplified, inter alia, by Turkey’s paying for construction of a new national mosque in the African country, at a cost of US$10 million. Turkey’s economic soft power relationship with Ghana is exemplified, inter alia, by both considerable recent investments and in fast-growing bilateral trade. The overall aim of the government of Turkey is to increase the country’s influence in Ghana, part of a wider initiative to expand its regional influence in Africa. Ghana is important to Turkey as it is regarded as a strategically important African country, one of the region’s few democracies and an economic success.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article touches an interesting problem and has high cognitive value yet a few elements definately require improvement. First of all the methodological part is missing which significantly dicreases the academic value of the paper. Secondly it would be important to improve the theoretical part concerning the concept of "soft power" which is developed in the text on a very basic level. Thirdly the quality of the article would be raised if the hypothesis was refined and developed. Thirdly some effort would be needed when it comes to editing and language. Finally it would be highly recommended to the author to refer to some more academically recognized sources than wikipedia. 

Author Response

The article touches an interesting problem and has high cognitive value yet a few elements definately require improvement. First of all the methodological part is missing which significantly dicreases the academic value of the paper. Secondly it would be important to improve the theoretical part concerning the concept of "soft power" which is developed in the text on a very basic level. Thirdly the quality of the article would be raised if the hypothesis was refined and developed. Thirdly some effort would be needed when it comes to editing and language. Finally it would be highly recommended to the author to refer to some more academically recognized sources than wikipedia.

I would like to thank the reviewer for these useful comments. In response, the paper now includes both a methodological part and a section detailing the paper’s hypotheses (found at the top of p.3). I have also addressed the theoretical part, especially “concerning the concept of ‘soft power’ which is developed in the text on a very basic level”. Please see the revised introduction to the article: “Introduction: Religious soft power and Turkey-Ghana relations”

Reviewer 3 Report

The topic is an interesting one and does not receive enough attention.  The author(s) do an excellent job of setting up the issue and providing a detailed case study of Ghana-Turkey relations.  

Author Response

Review 3

The topic is an interesting one and does not receive enough attention.  The author(s) do an excellent job of setting up the issue and providing a detailed case study of Ghana-Turkey relations.

I have not changed the paper in the light of these comments. Thanks to Reviewer 3 for his/her encouragement.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

the author seems to have addressed my concerns

Reviewer 2 Report

Congratulations to the author. The article will be of great value to the readers.