Professor Birol Başkan

MENA Geopolitics/ Turkish Foreign Policy

Prof. Birol Başkan is a political scientist specializing in state formation, regime building, and the international politics of the Middle East. He is the author of The Politics of Islam (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), Turkey and Qatar in the Tangled Geopolitics of the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and From Religious Empires to Secular States (Routledge, 2014). He is also the co-author of Turkey: The Second Republic (Routledge, 2024) and The Nation or the Ummah (State University of New York Press, 2021). Başkan previously taught at Qatar University (2007–2010), Georgetown University in Qatar (2010–2018), and the University of Tyumen (2023–2025). He holds a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University.

Başkan writes on Substack at birolbaskan.substack.com, where he publishes commentary, research notes, and longer essays on Middle Eastern and Turkish politics.

Professor Birol Başkan

Bring us your most challenging Red Sea and MENA questions. We've spent decades in the region -- It shows in our work.

Bring us your most challenging Red Sea and MENA questions.
We've spent decades in the region -- It shows in our work.