The Rethink Institute is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to deepen our understanding of contemporary political and cultural challenges facing communities and societies around the world, in realizing peace and justice, broadly defined. The Institute pursues this mission by facilitating research on public policies and civic initiatives centering on dispute resolution, peace building, dialogue development, and education. Toward these goals, the Institute sponsors rigorous research and analysis, supports visiting scholar programs, and organizes workshops and conferences.
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STAFF
Executive Director
Fevzi Bilgin's areas of expertise are constitutional politics, religion and politics, and political liberalism, Turkish politics, Middle Eastern politics, and US-Turkey relations. He received BA from Ankara University and PhD in political science from University of Pittsburgh. He previously taught at Sakarya University and St. Mary's College of Maryland. He has a number of publications including a recent book, Political Liberalism in Muslim Societies (Routledge, 2011).
Rethink Publications:
Research Fellow
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Vladimir Fedorenko specializes in democratization processes, civil society and civic movements in Central Asia, Russia and Turkey. In 2009 he graduated from George Mason University with MA in Political Science. He received his BA in International Relations from Ege University and he also graduated from Department of Accounting at Dokuz Eylul University. Vladimir is a fluent speaker of Russian, Turkish and Tajik.
Rethink Publications:
Dr. Bilal HaciogullariResearch Fellow
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Dr. Haciogullari’s research interests include Turkish foreign policy, the Kurdish question, conflict management and resolution, international development and sustainability, religion and state relations and the Middle East. Prior to joining the Rethink Institute, Haciogullari spent more than ten years at grassroots organizations and coordinated many activities and projects with local governmental institutions and NGOs in the state of Louisiana. He received BA in Theology from Ondokuz Mayis University in Samsun, Turkey, MA in Political Science and PhD in Public Policy at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. Haciogullari has taught American Politics, Public Administration and Middle East Politics at Southern University and Southeastern Louisiana University. He has a number of publications on the Kurdish question, Iraq and sustainable development.
AFFILIATED SCHOLARS
Dr. Gökhan Bacık
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Gökhan Bacik is an associate professor of political science at Zirve University. Bacik also taught in different European Universities as Erasmus Visiting Professor. He is the author of September 11 and World Politics (2004), Modern International System: Genealogy, Teleology and the Expansion (2007). He also published in Middle East Policy, International Review of Sociology, The Muslim World, Arab Studies Quarterly, Peace Review, Turkish Studies, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. His most recent book is Hybrid Sovereignty in the Arab Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008.)
Dr. Michael Cain
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Michael Cain is Professor of Political Science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (USA), Maryland’s state honors college. Professor Cain joined St. Mary’s College in 1999 and served as chairperson in Political Science for five years. Since 2007 he has been the director for the Center for the Study of Democracy, a non-profit organization that supports democratic inquiry and discussions on national and international politics. From 2002-2007 he was a senior technical adviser on energy and social welfare policies in new democracies for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), serving in states throughout Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Rethink Publications:
Dr. Rovhsan Ibrahimov
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Rovshan Ibrahimov is the head of Foreign Policy Analysis Department at Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the head of International Relations Department at Qafqaz University in Baku. He received BA, MA, and PhD in political sciences at Ankara University. Dr. Ibrahimov has been working at Qafqaz University since 1999. He has served as Director for Center of Energy Studies, Head of Regional Studies Department, and Vice-Rector on External Affairs. A known expert on energy policy and security, Azerbaijani foreign policy, and politics of Southern Caucasus, Dr. Ibrahimov also serves as an affiliated scholar for a number of Turkish, Russian, and British think tanks. He also produces a TV program and writes columns on foreign policy. Dr. Ibrahimov is the author of more than one hundred professional articles and commentaries.
Rethink Publications:
Dr. Ebru Ogurlu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ebru Oğurlu is a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Marmara University, Turkey. She received BA in International Relations from Middle East Technical University, MA at London School of Economics - European Institute, and PhD in Politics and International Relations of the EU at Marmara University - European Union Institute. Her research and publications focus on history and politics of the European Union, Turkey-European Union relations and Mediterranean politics. Currently, she teaches courses on issues in EU politics, integration theories of the EU and international organizations.
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PAST SCHOLARS
Dr. Yunus Kümek
Yunus Kümek is a research associate at the Department of Anthropology at State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his PhD from the same institution in education with the research concentrations of comparative education, multiculturalism and social anthropology. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on comparative education and cultural anthropology. He is the author of Teachers from Around the World: A Study of International Teachers in American Schools (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, 2010).
Rethink Publications:
Charles J. Sullivan Charles J. Sullivan is a PhD candidate in political science at The George Washington University. Mr. Sullivan has published articles in the Journal of Central Asian Studies, The Washington Review of Turkish & Eurasian Affairs, and The Journal of Energy and Development. Mr. Sullivan has also written two forthcoming contributory book chapters in edited volumes on Central Asia. Mr. Sullivan is currently a graduate student fellow at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies in Washington, DC.
Rethink Publications
Dr. Leila PiranLeila Piran, an adjunct instructor at George Washington University’s Police Science and Safety and Security Leadership programs, holds a Ph.D. in World Politics from Catholic University of America and a MA in International Affairs with a focus on the Middle East from American University. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on “Institutional Change: The Impact of the European Union Reforms on the Turkish National Police,” exploring the opportunities and challenges that the Turkish police has faced in implementing the EU’s human rights standards that every candidate country is expected to fulfill prior to accession. Her current research interests include Iranian foreign policy, U.S.-Iran relations, civil-military relations, and political change in the Middle East. She has taught courses on globalization, American foreign policy, and introduction to international affairs at American University and Catholic University. Leila is fluent in Persian, proficient in French, and conversant in Turkish.
