About Me
I am a PhD candidate and former teaching fellow in the Department of Political Science and Public Policy, the University of Waikato. Political science is my main area of expertise, specialising in political theory, comparative politics, the social history of political theory. I have a broader interest in investigating the intersections between cosmopolitanism, universalism, absolutism, nation-state, and transition to capitalism within the enlightenment processes of Prussia.
Education
PhD Candidate Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato, 2022
Master of Science Political Science and Public Administration at Middle East Technical University, 2017
Bachelor of Science Political Science and Public Administration (w. History minor) at Bilkent University, 2015
Research Interests
Politics of Kant's Universalism
My doctoral research is on the social history of political theory of the German Enlightenment (Aufklärung), specifically focusing on the political thought of Immanuel Kant. My dissertation, Kant's Universalism in Historical Context: Repoliticizing the Foundations of a Seminal Political Discourse, investigates the relationship between Kant's universalist philosophy and the development of social & political transformations of the Prussian state-building process towards (enlightened) absolutism. I particularly focus on the politics of Kant's universalism and analyze it in relation to the class and ideology of Bildungsbürgertum (educated professional bureaucratic class in Prussian context).
Reconsidering the Social History of Political Theory with Historical Materialism
I am working on reviewing historical materialism with the social history of political theory to recast the canon of political thinkers in the history of political thought with detailed analyses of their social property relations and class positions. The social history of political theory, defined as a mode of examination that regards the 'social, political and economic context of an author', instead of the contemporary context of ideas, constitute and powerfully shape the author's thought' (Comninel, 2018; Wood, 1984; Wood, 2008, 2012). My forthcoming study Reconsidering the Social History of Political Theory with Historical Materialism focuses on the implications of Marxism's approach to the history of political thought, analyzing the methodological debates in Political Marxism.
I have a broader interest in developing an interdisciplinary methodology, building a bridge between social history, political economy, and international political thought.
