Şener Aktürk
Short Bio:
I am a scholar of comparative politics, with a focus on comparative politics of ethnicity, religion, and nationalism, and Professor in the Department of International Relations at Koç University in Istanbul. After completing my BA and MA at the University of Chicago and my PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Government at Harvard University. My book, Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey (Cambridge University Press, 2012) received the 2013 Joseph Rothschild book prize from the Association for the Study of Nationalities. My academic articles have been published in World Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Politics, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Post-Soviet Affairs, Mediterranean Politics, Social Science Quarterly, European Journal of Sociology, Nationalities Papers, Problems of Post-Communism, Turkish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Osteuropa, Theoria, Ab Imperio, All Azimuth, Insight Turkey, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Central Eurasian Studies Review, Perceptions, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Doğu Batı and various edited books. I published 15 articles in SSCI indexed journals, of which 12 have been single-authored, which you can find under "Selected Publications" below. I published chapters in 20 edited books, 34 research articles in academic journals, and 24 book reviews, which you can find in the "Curriculum Vitae" link above. My H-index was 21 and my i10 index was 33 as of October 10, 2022.
My article, "Regimes of Ethnicity," was the first article published by a Turkey-based scholar in World Politics. My article, "Passport Identification and Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Russia" was the first article published by a Turkish scholar in Post-Soviet Affairs. I am the recipient of Peter Odegard Award (2006), Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (2010-2014), Baki Komsuoglu Social Sciences Encouragement Award (2011), Kadir Has Social Sciences Prize (2015), TUBA Young Scientist Award (2016), BAGEP Science Academy Award (2017), Koç University CASE Faculty Outstanding Teaching (2017) and Outstanding Research Award (2019-2020), and TUBİTAK Incentive Prize (2019).
As a comparative political scientist broadly defined, the following countries were among the qualitative case studies in focus in my previous publications: Afghanistan, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States. In addition, my publicly presented but not yet published works in progress include as case studies the following countries: Denmark, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. I have been the principal advisor of 4 PhD students and 8 M.A. students who received their degrees from Koç University between 2010 and 2022, in addition to some other students in whose thesis committees I participated as a member.
Selected Publications
Books
Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey. New York: Cambridge University Press (Problems of International Politics Series), 2012.
Türkiye’nin Kimlikleri: Din, Dil, Etnisite, Milliyet, Devlet ve Medeniyet. Istanbul: Etkileşim, 2013.
Articles in Web of Science (Social Science Citation Index-SSCI) Journals
"Nationalism and Religion in Comparative Perspective: A New Typology of National-Religious Configurations." Nationalities Papers 50, no. 2 (2022): 205-218. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2021.17 (Open Access)
"The puzzle of Turkish minority representation, nationhood cleavage, and politics of recognition in Bulgaria, Greece, and North Macedonia." (with Idlir Lika). Mediterranean Politics 27, no. 1 (2022): 1-28. DOI: 10.1080/13629395.2020.1750269
"Varieties of Resilience and Side Effects of Disobedience Cross-National Patterns of Survival during the Coronavirus Pandemic." (with Idlir Lika). Problems of Post-Communism 69, no. 1 (2022): 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2021.1894405
"Institutionalization of Ethnocultural Diversity and the Representation of European Muslims." (with Yury Katliarou) Perspectives on Politics 19, no. 2 (2021): 388-405. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720001334
"Comparative Politics of Exclusion in Europe and the Americas: Religious, Sectarian, and Racial Boundary Making since the Reformation." Comparative Politics 52, no. 4 (2020): 695-719. DOI: 10.5129/001041520X15786939438699
"Unipolar vs. multipolar: Russland und die Türkei im Vergleich." Osteuropa 68, no. 10-12 (2018): 119-129. https://zeitschrift-osteuropa.de/hefte/2018/10-12/unipolar-vs-multipolar/ and https://www.jstor.org/stable/26645003
"One nation under Allah? Islamic multiculturalism, Muslim nationalism and Turkey’s reforms for Kurds, Alevis, and non-Muslims." Turkish Studies 19, no. 4 (2018): 523-551.
DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2018.1434775
"Post-imperial democracies and new projects of nationhood in Eurasia: transforming the nation through migration in Russia and Turkey." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43, no. 7 (2017): 1101-1120. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1246177
"Religion and Nationalism: Contradictions of Islamic Origins and Secular Nation-Building in Turkey, Algeria, and Pakistan.” Social Science Quarterly 96, no. 3 (2015): 778-806.
“Fourth Style of Politics: Eurasianism as a Pro-Russian Rethinking of Turkey’s Geopolitical Identity.” Turkish Studies 16, no. 1 (2015): 54-79.
DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2015.1021246
“NATO Neden Genişledi? Uluslararası İlişkiler Kuramları Işığında NATO'nun Genişlemesi ve ABD-Rusya İç Siyaseti.” Uluslararası İlişkiler 9, no. 34 (2012): 73-97. Direct Link
“Regimes of Ethnicity: Comparative Analysis of Germany, the Soviet Union/Post-Soviet Russia, and Turkey.” World Politics 63, no. 1 (2011): 115-164.
DOI: 10.1017/S0043887110000304 and https://www.jstor.org/stable/23018799
“Passport Identification and Nation-Building in Post-Soviet Russia.” Post-Soviet Affairs 26, no. 4 (2010): 314-341. DOI: 10.2747/1060-586X.26.4.314
“Persistence of the Islamic Millet as an Ottoman Legacy: Mono-Religious and Anti-Ethnic Definition of Turkish Nationhood.” Middle Eastern Studies 45, no. 6 (2009): 913-929.
DOI: 10.1080/00263200903294229
“Incompatible Visions of Supra-nationalism: National Identity in Turkey and the European Union.” European Journal of Sociology 48, no. 2 (2007): 347-72. DOI: 10.1017/S0003975607000409
Edited Book
The Arab Spring: Past, Present, and the Future (Istanbul: TRT World Research Centre, 2022).
Edited Journal Special Issue
Guest Editor of the Special Issue on “Debating Turkey's Grand Strategy.” Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs (published by the Center for Strategic Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey), Vol. 25, no. 2 (2020). Available at http://www.sam.gov.tr/pdf/perceptions/Volume-XXV/Autumn-Winter-2020/perceptions-Volume-XXV-Autumn-Winter-2020.pdf
Selected Book Chapters in Edited Volumes
“Ethnicity and Religion in Russia.” In Susanne Wengle (ed.), Russian Politics Today: Stability and Fragility (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023).
“Comparative Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Chapter 14 in Muzaffer Şeker, Ali Özer, Cem Korkut (eds.), Reflections on the Pandemic in the Future of the World (Ankara: Turkish Academy of Sciences, 2020): 309-324.
“The Myth of a Christian Europe: From the Siege of Vienna to the Massacre in Norway.” In Andreas Delsett (ed.), The Saladin Anthology (Oslo: Litteraturhuset [The House of Literature], 2015): 58-67. (article version, 2012)
“Politics of History in Turkey: Revisionist Historiography’s Challenge to the Official Version of the Turkish War of Liberation (1919-1922).” In Alexei Miller and Maria Lipman (eds.), Convolutions of Historical Politics (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2012): 279-308.
Regimes of Ethnicity and Nationhood in Germany, Russia, and Turkey
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Türkiye'nin Kimlikleri:
Din, Dil, Etnisite, Milliyet, Devlet ve Medeniyet
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