This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
In both Turkey and Thailand, a complacent elite finds itself challenged by a newly enfranchised electorate. Both countries are witnessing a new and exceptionally popular elected leader succeed in displacing the traditional dominance of the military and in undermining the political myths that have shaped each nation for decades. Zarakol will analyze the reasons why social forces in these two countries (and perhaps in other parts of Asia as well) have crystallized in such similar patterns.
Bio:
Ayse Zarakol is a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow for 2012-2013. Previously she was an Assistant Professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, and she will soon assume a position as University Lecturer at University of Cambridge, UK. Her current research interests include: East-West relations in the international system, problems of modernity and sovereignty, and Turkish politics in a comparative perspective.