Došancan Özsel, PhD, Political science
dogancan.ozsel@hacettepe.edu.tr
Tel: +90 541 390 1912
Ongoing Works
Classifying Conservatisms
Work: An article to be submitted to the Journal of Politics.
Subject: A schematisation to comprehend the relations between different variants of conservatism.
Conservatism and Change
Work: An article to be submitted to the Journal of Political Philosophy.
Subject: A comprehensive study on the relation between the conservative ideology and the idea of change. The article underlines the significance of the natural-arbitrary dichotomy in justifying the conservative policies for change. It also argues that this operation necessarily rests upon a theoretical ground that puts conservative exceptionalism in doubt.
A Decade of AKP: Ruptures and Continuities
Work: An article written in collaboration with Armagan Ozturk. It is to be submitted to the Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.
Subject: This article provides a critical analysis of a decade long government of AKP (Justice and Development Party) in Turkey. Oscillation of the AKP between liberal reformism and authoritarian conservatism is explained through the interests of the so-called devout bourgeoisie that forms the backbone of the AKP movement both culturally and financially.
Proposals
Turkish Conservatism: Burke in the Orient or Islamic Reactionism Misnamed?
Work: It is a postgraduate research project submitted to the funding scheme of the British Institute.
Subject: Projected research investigates the relationship between conservative ideology, as it is formulated by Burke in its classical form, and Turkish conservatism. It thus attempts to discern the theoretical foundations of Turkish conservatism, to clarify the extent of its intellectual links with the British conservatism and to offer some hints about the degree of peculiarity of the conservative ideology to the Western culture.