Karabekir Akkoyunlu

I am a Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS University of London. Previously I taught at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), University of São Paulo, University of Graz and the LSE. I was also a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford.

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My research focuses on the actors and institutions that drive and resist democratisation, autocratisation and militarisation in the Global South. I explore this topic from an interregional perspective, through in-depth comparison of cases that are not typically compared, such as Turkey, Brazil, Iran and Indonesia. In my research, I employ a mixed-methods approach to comparative politics, using archival resources and interviews alongside quantitative data.

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At SOAS I convened the post-graduate courses ‘Methodology in the Social Sciences’ and ‘State and Transformation in the Middle East’, and the undergraduate courses ‘Introduction to Comparative Politics’ and ‘Government and Politics of the Middle East’.

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With roots in Istanbul, Turkey, I am a global nomad who has studied and worked in the US, France, Indonesia, the UK, Iran, Austria and Brazil.

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I have a PhD in Government from the LSE, MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in History & IR from Brown University.