Berk Esen

Berk Esen is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Sabanci University, Turkey. A comparativist by training, his research examines authoritarian governance, democratic erosion, party competition, and regime transformation, with a focus on Turkey and the Middle East, as well as the broader implications for populist and hybrid regimes globally. His work analyses regime survival, opposition coordination, and institutional breakdown in competitive and hegemonic authoritarian systems. In addition to his academic scholarship, he regularly engages with policy and public audiences, offering analysis of political developments, institutional uncertainty, and opposition strategy under authoritarian rule. He is the author and editor of three books on Turkish politics and has published widely on democratic backsliding and populism in comparative perspective. He serves on the Executive Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and is General Secretary of the Turkish Political Science Association. He is a recipient of the Sakip Sabanci International Research Award and the Turkish Science Academy Young Scientist Award. He previously served as an IPC–Stiftung Mercator Fellow at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University.