Rabia Karakaya Polat, PhD

Işık University, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü

Kumbaba Mevki 34980, Sile – Istanbul

Work: 0216 5287107

rabia@isikun.edu.tr

 

 

Personal information:

Birth place/date: Adana, 31 October 1977

Marital status: Married

 

 

Employment:

 

Assistant professor, Işık University, Department of International Relations, since April 2006

 

 

Education and Qualifications

 

PhD, De Montfort University, Department of Public Policy, Leicester, United Kingdom, January 2001- September 2004

Thesis Title: The Internet, Local Participation and Democracy: An Institutionalist Approach

 

BA, Bogazici University, Istanbul, 1995 - 1999

Department of Political Science and International Relations, Honours degree

 

 

Research Awards

 

  • Isik University Research Fund, Research grant for the project titled: Ideological Positioning of Political Parties in Turkey: A Closer Look at the 2007 Elections, (with Dr Odul Celep), September 2007 -  ongoing project

 

  • The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK),  Research grant for the project titled: The Political Cartoons: Means of Political Change and Modernisation in Azerbaijan and Turkey, (with Dr Salih Bicakci), January 2007 – January 2008

 

  • The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK),  Grant for organising an international workshop on “e-Democracy: Rethinking Concepts and Methods”, 2006

 

  • Isik University Research Fund, Research grant for the project titled: The Political Cartoons: Means of Political Change and Modernisation in Azerbaijan and Turkey, (with Dr Salih Bıçakcı), March 2006 – January 2008

 

  • Turkish Informatics Foundation, Funding for writing a report on the parameters of e-municipality in Turkey

 

  • Central European University, Budapest, Full scholarship to study ‘Globalisation and Public Policy’ in the Summer School July 2004, sponsored by Open Society Institute

 

  • European Consortium for Political Research Grant for attending Essex Summer School on Data Collection and Analysis, August 2003

 

  • De Montfort University, PhD Bursary, January 2001 – January 2004

 

 

Research Interests

 

  • Electronic democracy and electronic government
  • Political participation
  • Local democracy
  • Securitization theory
  • Turkey and the European Union

 

 

 

Teaching Experience

 

  • Political Theory
  • Comparative Politics
  • Introduction to Political Science
  • European Union Politics
  • Research Strategy and Writing Skills
  • Political Change and Modernisation
  • MA course in Political Change and Modernisation in the Middle East

 

 

 

Research Experience

 

  • The Political Cartoons: Means of Political Change and Modernisation in Azerbaijan and Turkey, (with Dr Salih Bıçakcı), January 2006 – January 2008 funded by Isik University Research Fund and The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)

 

  • National Project on Local e-Democracy: Developing the e-Democracy Environment. Research commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, United Kingdom and is being carried out by Local Governance Research Unit, De Montfort University, September 2004 - February 2005

 

  • Project on Defining the Parameters of e-Municipality in Turkey. Commissioned by Turkish Informatics Society, December 2004 -  February 2005

 

  • Research on political party websites and the websites of the national parliaments in the member states of the European Union. Commissioned by the European Parliament and the European University Institute (Italy), 2003

 

  • Participation in a research project on mapping the political values in Turkey

Commissioned by TESEV as part of World Values Survey 1998

 

 

Publications

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2009) ‘The 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Turkey: Between Securitization and Desecuritization’, Parliamentary Affairs, 62(1), pp. 129-148

 

Bülent Aras and Rabia Karakaya Polat (2008) ‘From Conflict to Cooperation: Desecuritization of Turkey’s Relations with Syria and Iran’, Security Dialogue, 39(5), pp. 475-495

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2008) ‘The Kurdish Issue: Can the AK Party Escape Securitization’, Insight Turkey, 10(3), pp. 75-86

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2008) ‘AKP and the Kurdish Issue: What Went Wrong?’ SETA Policy Brief No: 14, Ankara: SETA

 

Lawrence Pratchett, Melvin Wingfield and Rabia Karakaya Polat (2008) ‘Local Democracy Online: An Analysis of Local Government Websites in England and Wales’ in Norrris, D. (ed), E-Government Research: Policy and Management, University of Maryland: Baltimore County, USA

 

Bülent Aras and Rabia Karakaya Polat (2007) Turkey and the Middle East: Frontiers of the New Geographic Imagination, Australian Journal of International Affairs, 61 (4), pp. 471-488.

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2007) ‘From Securitization to Desecuritization? The Impact of the EU Membership Process on Political Culture in Turkey’ in Tunkrova, L. and Saradin, P. (eds.) Turecko a Evropska Unie: Ceska a Turecka Perspektiva (Turkey and the European Union:  Czech and Turkish Perspectives), Olomouc: Vydavatelstvi UP

 

Lawrence Pratchett, Melvin Wingfield and Rabia Karakaya Polat (2006) Local Democracy Online: An Analysis of Local Government Websites in England and Wales, International Journal of e-Government Research, 2 (3), pp. 75-92.

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2005) The Internet and Political Participation: Exploring the Explanatory Links, European Journal of Communication, 20 (4), pp. 435-459.

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2005) The Internet and Democratic Local Governance: The Context of Britain, International Information and Library Review, 37 (2), pp. 87-97.

 

Rabia Karakaya Polat (2005) ‘The Internet and Citizen Participation: Exploring the Barriers to Reform in the Context of UK Local Government’ pp. 261-287 in Reynaert, H., Delwit, P., Steyvers, K., Pilet, J.B., (eds), Revolution or Renovation? Reforming Local Politics in Europe, Vanden Broele: Brugge.

 

Pratchett, L., Wingfield M., and Karakaya Polat, R. (2005) Barriers to e-Democracy: Local Government Experiences and Responses, final report prepared for Office for the Deputy Prime Minister as part of National Project on Local e-Democracy

 

Karakaya, R. and Pratchett, L. (2003) ‘e-Democracy in the UK’ – country report in Trechsel, A., Kies, R., Mendez, F., and Schmitter, P. Evaluation of the Use of New Technologies in Order to Facilitate Democracy in Europe: e-Democratising the Parliaments and Parties of Europe, European Parliament

 

 

Other publications

 

‘Politics and the Internet: Observations from the US elections’, Turkish Daily News, 15 December 2008

 

‘Is Turkish Big Brother Watching Us’, Turkish Daily News, 03 June 2008

 

‘AKP and the Kurds: What Went Wrong’, Turkish Daily News, 16 June 2008

 

‘e-Belediyecilik Kılavuzu: Yerel Yönetim Vatandaş Etkileşimi’, Türk Asya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi, İstanbul, 2006

 

Türkiye’de e-Belediye, in Bilişim Ansiklopedisi, Türkiye Bilişim Vakfı -  Papatya Yayıncılık Eğitim, İstanbul, March 2006

 

E-devlet Derken e-Demokrasi Geride Kaldı, e-Devlet, 2005, Vol. 8, pp. 32-33

 

‘Bilgi Edinme Hakkı Yasası, İnternet ve Eşitlik’, Teknoturk online journal, available at www.teknoturk.org, 2004

 

 

 

Conference Presentations

 

Polat Karakaya, R. (2008) The European Union as a Desecuritizer: Securitization and Desecuritization of Turkey’s Kurdish Question, Paper presented at the 58th Annual Conference of Political Studies Association, Swansea University, United Kingdom, 1 – 3 April

 

Polat Karakaya, R. (2007) Constitutional Dimension of the Parliamentary Elections in Turkey, Paper presented at Strategic Research Center, Tehran, December

 

Polat Karakaya, R. (2007) Europeanization and Turkish Foreign Policy toward the Middle East: A process of desecuritization?, Paper presented at Middle Eastern Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montreál, Canada, November

 

Polat Karakaya, R. (2007) Securitization and desecuritization: Assessing the impact of the EU membership process on political culture in Turkey, Paper presented at European Political Science Network Plenary Conference “Europe Integration and/or Fragmentation”, University of Ljubljana, June

Polat Karakaya, R. (2006) Europeanization in Turkey: Searching for Impacts on Foreign Policy, Paper presented at the European Political Science Network Pleanary Conference "Europe In Context: Debating the Project, 16-17 June, Central European University, Budapest

 

Polat Karakaya, R. and Pratchett, L. (2005) Enacting Electronic Democracy, Paper presented at the 55th Annual Conference of Political Studies Association, University of Leeds, 5 – 7 April

 

Polat Karakaya, R. (2004) The Internet and Citizens’ Participation: Exploring the Barriers to Reform, Congress on Political and Electoral Reforms at the Local Level, Universiteit Gent, Belgium, 16 -17 December

 

Karakaya, R. (2003) The Internet and Citizen Participation: How Institutional Environment Impacts upon the Strategy of a Local Authority? Paper presented at European Consortium for Political Research General Conference, Marburg, Germany, 18-21 September

 

Karakaya, R.  (2003) The Use of the Internet for Citizen Participation: Enhancing Democratic Local Governance? Paper presented at the Annual Conference of Political Studies Association, University of Leicester, United Kingdom, 15 - 17 April 2003

 

Karakaya, R.  (2001) Political Participation at the Local Level: New Challenges in Researching the Impacts of the Internet, Paper to Central and Northern Universities Graduate Network Conference, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, 17 November 2001

 

 

Professional Memberships and Activities

 

  • Member of Political Studies Association, United Kingdom, 2001-
  • Member of Turkish Political Science Association, 2006-
  • Member of Middle Eastern Studies Association, 2007-
  • Member of International Political Studies Association, 2008-
  • Member of international advisory board of Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
  • Reviewer for International Journal of Electronic Government Research
  • Reviewer for Urban Studies
  • Reviewer for Public Administration: An International Quarterly
  • Reviewer for Avrasya Dosyası
  • Reviewer for The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK)
  • Panel convenor for the 55th Annual Conference of Political Studies Association, panel title: Defining and Designing Electronic Democracy, 5 – 7 April 2005
  • Member of ECPR Standing Group on Local Government and Politics
  • Member of ECPR Standing Group on Forms of Participation

 

 

Computer Skills

 

Skilled with Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Knowledge on database design (Access) and website development (FrontPage)

Knowledge on SPSS

 

 

Language Skills

 

Fluent in English

Intermediate in French