THE LOGIC OF STATE-MARKET PARTNERSHIPS IN FOREIGN POLICY: DIGITAL HEGEMONY AND SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM

Abstract: In the twenty-first century, foreign policy has undergone profound transformation through control of digital infrastructure, management of data flows, and determination of information production processes. This study examines how state-market partnerships shape foreign policy under conditions of digital hegemony and surveillance capitalism, through which mechanisms they execute power transfer, and how they restructure the international order. The fundamental research question is: How do state-market partnerships transform foreign policy under conditions of digital hegemony and surveillance capitalism, and how does this process reshape the international system? The hypothesis posits that digital hegemony and surveillance capitalism reconstruct foreign policy at infrastructural, algorithmic, and epistemic levels through state-market partnerships, generating a new logic of power based on information control, behavioral steering, and reality construction beyond traditional definitions of power. The study aims to bring a new conceptual perspective to foreign policy analysis and provide theoretical and analytical tools necessary for understanding power relations in the digital age. Methodologically, a qualitative, analytical, and inductive research design combining critical political economy and structural-constructivist approaches has been adopted. Data collection was conducted through multi-layered document analysis based on academic literature, state digital policy documents, and corporate reports of technology companies. Findings demonstrate that state-market partnerships transform foreign policy at three levels: construction and standardization of digital systems at the infrastructural level, control of content visibility and information circulation at the algorithmic level, and determination of reality definitions and information legitimacy at the epistemic level. Consequently, foreign policy in the digital age is shaped not through military or diplomatic instruments but through algorithmic competition and epistemic domination. The study contributes conceptually, theoretically, and analytically to the literature by explaining the connection between digital hegemony and surveillance capitalism from a foreign policy perspective.