Regime change (democratisation and authoritarianisation), Civil-Military Relations, Populism, Party Politics, Turkish Politics, Greek Politics

I joined Aston University in the summer of 2017. Prior to my appointment, I was an Associate Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University in Turkey and a Senior Member of St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. 

I received my PhD in politics from the University of Virginia in 2008. I have worked on regime change and consolidation, democratization, civil-military relations and coup d’états. I have published numerous articles on these subjects, covering Turkish, Greek and other Southern European countries from a comparative perspective in edited volumes and peer reviewed journals. 

My book, Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey, and Beyond (University of Michigan Press, 2017), examines four episodes of authoritarianism, six periods of democracy and ten short-lived coups in Greece and Turkey. My findings are based on more than 150 interviews I conducted with the elites of both countries. In the book, I also apply my arguments to four more recent military interventions in Thailand and Egypt. 

I am currently doing research on populism and party politics from a comparative perspective. I am also interested in the relations between Turkey and Britain since the 1920s.

• LP1029 –Introduction to Studying and Researching Politics
• LP2020 –The Politics and Policies of the European Union
• LP3048 –Democracy, Authoritarianism and Regime Change
• LPM047 –Politics in South Europe

I am interested in supervising PhDs within the broader fields of Comparative Politics and International Relations. Prospective research students who would like to work on the following specific areas are welcome to email me:

• regime change (towards democracy or authoritarianism)
• civil-military relations and coups d'état
• security and defence policies
• comparative populism 
• Turkish politics and foreign policy
• Greek politics and foreign policy

Tel: 0121 204 3739
Email: y.gursoy@aston.ac.uk