Seda Gürkan is lecturer at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Department of Political Science and European Studies Institute and visiting scholar at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). She is a graduate of London School of Economics (LSE), ULB and Diplomatic School of Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Madrid, Spain). She was previously research fellow at Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. She is the country expert (Turkey) for Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI). Her research interests include EU-Turkey relations, Turkish politics, parliamentary diplomacy, Europeanisation and European integration theories.
Prior to joining ULB, she served as NATO officer (International civil servant) at NATO Headquarters in Brussels at the cabinet of Assistant Secretary General between 2006 and 2012. There she worked on political-military affairs, security and defence issues, including missile defence, cyber defence and counter-terrorism. Mrs. Gürkan had previously also worked at the Club of Madrid in Spain and at the Representation Office of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) in Brussels as a political advisor on the external relations of the EU and EU-Turkey relations.
She is a scholar of German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and Atlantik Brücke Young Leaders Program Alumni. She was awarded Jean Monnet scholarship offered by the European Commission. Mrs. Gürkan was a Robert Schuman Scholar at the European Parliament, Directorate General for Committees and Delegations, Enlargement section (Brussels) in 2003. She offered senior courses on international relations and international security at NATO Defence College (Rome, Italy) and NATO School in Oberammergau (Germany). She received NATO research award with her research project on NATO-Turkey relations. She is a former American Field Service (AFS) scholar and she holds an Art Diploma from Rome, Italy. She speaks Turkish (native), English, French, Italian and Spanish (all fluent).
Education
2014:Ph.D. in Political Science, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
- Dissertation: ‘The Impact of the EU on Turkish Foreign Policy during the Pre-Accession Process to the EU: À la Carte Europeanization’
- Supervisor: Prof. Mario Telò
- Research award by TUSIAD for doctoral studies
2006:Diplomatic School, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2002:Master of Science (MSc) in European Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- Thesis: ‘The Implications of the CESDP for non-EU, European NATO Members’
- Supervisor: Prof. William Wallace
- Jean Monnet Scholarship granted by the European Commission (in the selection exam ranked first among all participants)
2001:BA in Political Science and International Relations, Marmara University
Work Experience
Since 2020:Visiting fellow at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), Political Science Department
Since 2015:Lecturer in Political Science and European Studies, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Political Science Department, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Since 2015:Research fellow, Institute for European Studies (IEE), and member of CEVIPOL (Le Centre d’Etude de la Vie Politique), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
2012-2014:Research Fellow (May-June 2012) and non-resident fellow (June 2012-2014), Johns Hopkins University, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Center for Transatlantic Relations, Washington DC
2006-2012:Advisor to the Assistant Secretary General, member of NATO International Staff, responsible for NATO-EU relations, counter-terrorism and defence aspects of military operations (passed the international recruitment examination and ranked among top six over 4.000 candidates)
2004-2005:Research fellow on international security and democratization in Central Eastern European Countries and Caucasian States, Club de Madrid, Madrid
2003-2004:Advisor on external relations of the EU and Turkey-EU relations, Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), EU Representation Office, Brussels
2003:Researcher (Robert Schuman scholar), European Parliament, Directorate General for Committees and Delegations, Enlargement section, Brussels
July 2000:Researcher on European security, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Center for Strategic Research, Ankara
1999-2000:Research Assistant in Political Science, Marmara University, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Istanbul
Courses taught (ULB)
- Introduction to EU institutions, (BA and MA level)
- External Action of the EU, (MA level)
- Decision-making in the European Union, (MA level)
- European Negotiations: Simulating Ordinary Legislative Procedure, (MA level)
- Methodology in European Studies (MA level)
- Doctoral Seminar on Theory, Methodology and Research in Political Science (PhD level)
- Seminar series on Contemporary Turkish Studies
Languages
- English (advanced)
- French (advanced)
- Turkish (advanced)
- Spanish (advanced)
- Italian (good)
- Europeanization
- European integration theories
- EU policy-making
- EU conditionality
- EU enlargement
- Turkish politics and EU-Turkey relations
- Parliamentary diplomacy (European Parliament)
- Emotions in IR
- Office hours: Friday 12:15-14:15 by appointment, Institute of Sociology, S building, 11th floor, Room S.11.117
- Permanences: sur rendez-vous les vendredis de 12h15-14h15 à l’Institut de Sociologie, étage 11, local S.11.117
- EU institutions
- EU policy-making
- Theory and Methodology in Political Science
- External Action of the EU
- Ordinary legislative procedure
- EU-Turkey relations
- Contemporary Turkey
- Process-Tracing
- Academic writing
My research and teaching has evolved at the crossroads of EU studies, comparative politics (area studies) and IR. In a nutshell, my research interests include European integration (EU policy-making, Europeanization, EU’s transformative power), IR theory (domestic-international linkages, international institutions, norm diffusion), area studies (contemporary Turkish politics) and qualitative methods (process-tracing, elite interviewing, bridging positivist-interpretive techniques).
Latest publications:
- Emotions in EUropean Foreign Policy (co-edited Special Issue with O. Terzi and T. Palm), Global Affairs, 7:2.
- Theorising the crises of the European Union (co-edited book with N. Brack), Routledge, 2021.
- Gürkan, S. and L. Tomini (2021) The limits of Europeanization research agenda: Decoding the reverse process in and around the EU. In N. Brack and S. Gürkan (eds.), Theorising the crises of the European Union. Routledge.
- Gürkan, S.(2021) Emotions in Parliamentary Diplomacy: Debating the Armenian Genocide in the European Parliament, Global Affairs, 7:2.
- Gürkan, S. and R. Coman (2021), The EU–Turkey deal in the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’: when intergovernmentalism cast a shadow on the EU’s normative power, Acta Politica, 56.
- Tomini, L. and S. Gürkan (2021), Contesting the EU, Contesting Democracy and Rule of Law in Europe. Conceptual Suggestions for Future Research. In A. Lorenz and L. H. Anders (eds.), Illiberal Trends and Anti-EU Politics in East Central Europe, Palgrave Macmillan.
- Gürkan (2020) Process Tracing. In Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A A-Z of Key Concepts. In J-F. Morin, C. Olsson and E. Ö. Atikcan (eds), Oxford University Press (with J. Rietveld).
- Gürkan, Seda (2020) "Why the EU should not opt for another refugee deal with Turkey with no shared responsibility", Expert opinion, Real Elcano, 12 March 2020 (with I. Toygür)
- Gürkan, Seda (2020), "BTI Country Report on Turkey", April 2020.
- Gürkan, Seda (2019) "The Role of the European Parliament in the Enlargement Process", in Parliamentary Cooperation and Diplomacy in EU External Relations, Kolja Raube, Meltem Muftuler-Bac and Jan Wouters (eds.), Edward Elgar.
- Gürkan, Seda (2019) Speaking loudly but carrying a small stick: is the EU powerless against Erdogan? Op-ed, The Conversation, 30 October 2019
- Gürkan, Seda (2018) "Not too close but not too far away: The EU's relations with the new Turkey", Op-ed, EURACTIV, 4 July 2018
- Gürkan, Seda (2018) “The role of the European Parliament in Turkey-EU relations: A useful normative actor or a troublemaker?”, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2018.1431515
- Gürkan, Seda (2018) "Yeni söylem AB-Türkiye ilişkilerine ivme kazandırır mı?" [No prospect of rapprochement between Turkey and the EU despite the emergence of a new discourse] (in Turkish), Op-Ed, Euronews, 27 September 2018
For previous publications see DI-fusion list: http://difusion.ulb.ac.be/vufind/Search/Home?lookfor=GuRKAN,Seda&sort=pubdate+desc&type=person
Recent Media Appearances (selected):
- Euronews, interview on the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the US, 28/04/2021
- La Tribune, l’Union européenne a-t-elle fait un cadeau à Erdogan?, contribution, 9/04/2021
- Radio Télévision Belge (La RTBF), interview on the EU-Turkey deal on refugees, 3/3/2020
- Euronews, Extreme right and the elections of the European Parliament, 21/01/2019
- La RTBF, (en direct) la 1ère-Soir Première le fait du jour, 'Quel avenir pour la Turquie?’' - l'interview sur les elections en Turquie, 25 Juin 2018 [ https://www.rtbf.be/info/dossier/la-prem1ere-soir-prem1ere/detail_reelection-d-erdogan-le-nationalisme-a-gagne-les-elections?id=9955646 ]
- Radio Campus, l'interview sur le nouveau système politique en Turquie, 25 Juin 2018
- Le Vif/l'Express, contribution to Dossier Turquie, 21-27 June 2018 [http://www.levif.be/actualite/international/erdogan-maitre-de-sa-diaspora/article-normal-856385.html ]
- Euronews, interview, 23 March 2018 [ http://www.euronews.com/video/2018/03/26/-turkey-needs-europe-europe-needs-turkey- ]
- Brussels crow, (live from the European Parliament), interview on women rights in Turkey, 6 March 2018
- Euronews, contribution to State of the Union programme, ‘EU-Turkey relations on the first anniversary of the coup attempt’, 15 July 2017
- Euronews, interview, ‘Liens difficiles entre l'UE et Ankara’, 13 July 2017 [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRoP10JDJk ]
- Euronews, interview, ‘MEPs say Turkey’s EU membership bid could be suspended’, 6 July 2017 [http://www.euronews.com/2017/07/06/meps-say-turkey-s-eu-membership-bid-could-be-suspended]
- Euronews, interview, ‘Dutch MEP report seeks Turkey-EU talks suspension’, 5 July 2017 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHcIWDhrA4g ]
- Brussels crow, interview, Avrupa Birligi referendum icin ne diyor? [EU on Turkey’s constitutional referendum], 12 April 2017 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd9b76RP028]
- Revue Démocratie, interview, ‘Turquie: vers la fin de la démocratie?’, 1 November 2016 [http://www.revue-democratie.be/index.php/international/1211-interview-de-seda-gurkan-turquie-vers-la-fin-de-la-democratie]