Bulent Gokay

Biography

I joined Keele in 1996 from Wolfson College, Cambridge, where I had been a postdoctoral Research Fellow for the previous three years. Before coming to Keele, I worked at the Birkbeck College-London, University of North London, and at the University of Cambridge, teaching the history of Soviet Union, Russian Revolution, Weimar Republic, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Intelligence and International Politics.  

My books include The Politics of Caspian Oil  by Palgrave in 2001; Eastern Europe Since 1970 by Longman in 2005 (second edition in 2006), The New American Imperialism: Bush's War on Terror and Blood for Oil, co-authored with Vassilis K. Fouskas, published by Greenwood Publishing Group in 2005; SOVIET EASTERN POLICY AND TURKEY, 1920-1991 by Routledge in 2006,  Politics of Oil – A Survey, by Routledge in 2006; Unholy Alliance: Muslims and Communists in Post-Transition States (with Ben Fowkes) by Routledge, 2011; The Fall of the US Empire. Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting Imperial Order, co-authored with Vassilis K. Fouskas, published by Pluto Press, June 2012. (GlobalFaultlines- interview), and The Disintegration of Euro-Atlanticism and New Authoritarianism, co-authored with Vassilis K. Fouskas, published by Palgrave Macmillian, January 2019

I am also:

• the chair of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies
• the founder and Managing Editor of the Journal of Global Faultlines
• the academic advisor fo the Easdale Foundation of Labour Research in London

Research and scholarship

I am trained/experienced in historical and political-economy analysis.  My research to date has involved extensive archival research, literature reviews and textual analysis. My research expertise has been built across two interrelated strands: the political and social history of post - WW1 settlements, and political-economy analysis of resource competition in Eurasia. Since 2008, I have been developing my historical analysis of the global financial/economic crisis using a geological metaphor ‘global faultlines’ to sketch out points of fracture linked with factors such as the collapse of major banks, declining industrial capacity and depletion of natural resources. 

Two of my recent book,  The Fall of the US Empire: Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting Imperial Order (2012) and The Disintegration of Euro-Atlanticism and New Authoritarianism (2019), are good examples to this, analysing the changing balance of global power, the hegemonic shift from the global "West" to the global "East/ South". The decline of the US hegemony, the rise of China and other Emerging Powers, and the nature of contemporary global political economy are issues of paramount importance to me, and I try to analyse such questions from a non-provincial perspective in order to understand HOW THE WORLD WORKS, the current crisis and Where Do We Go from Here.  My recent articles on such issues:

The Disintegraton of Euro-Atlanticism and New Authoritarianism. Global Power-Shift

The Rise of Right-Wing Authoritarianism In the Era Of Global Shift

Tectonic Shifts and Systemic Faultlines: The Global Economic Crisis

Making sense of the protests in Turkey (and Brazil): contesting neo-liberal urbanism in ‘Rebel Cities’

Two pillars of US global hegemony: Middle Eastern oil and the petrodollar

Cannibalisation and the State of Exception

'Whiter than White': Race and Otherness in Turkish and Greek National Identities

Iraq and Syria didn't create ISIS -- we did

Areas of research:

• Soviet Foreign Policy, 1920s and 1930s
• Contemporary Turkish political history
• Decline and disintegration of the state socialist systems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
• Oil Politics and Energy Security in Eurasia
• Global Political Economy - Decline of the West, Global Shift to the East/ South-- a 'World Systems' perspective

Teaching

• Introduction to Global Political Economy (level 1)
• IR of Eurasia: Challenges of Globalisation and Geopolitics (level 2)
• Missing Dimension: Intelligence Services and International Relations (level 3)
• Rethinking Faultlines Beyond the East-West Divide in Global Politics (MA level, team-taught)
• Crisis, continuity and change: Critical Trends and Issues in Contemporary Global History (MA level, team taught)

Further information

I can supervise research students in the following areas:

* Global Political Economy, decline of the West/ North and the rise of Emerging Powers in the Global East/ South

* Turkish Politics and History

* Oil Politics and Energy Security in Eurasia

I have supervised, as Lead Supervisor, 17 PhD students to successful completion.

Successful Doctoral completions:

• Drosili Hamourtziadou, “National Truths: Justifications and Self-Justifications of Three Nationalisms in Bosnia-Herzegovina” (2001)
• Yoshihiko Mizumoto, “Counselling America, Involving the Soviet Union: Winston Churchill's Strategy for Britain's Revival, 1951-1955” (2002)
• Hasene Karasac, “The Torn Countries, Turkey and Russia, in the post-Cold War Era: in search of Identity” (2003)
• Kelly Hignett, “The Politics of Organised Crime in East Central Europe” (2005)
• Ahmet Ozturk, “Management of trans-boundary mega-projects in the post-Cold War Eurasia: the case studies of GAP water and Baku-Ceyhan pipeline projects” (2006)
• Emre Iseri, “The US grand strategy and the Eurasian heartland in the 21st century: with special reference to the main Caspian oil pipeline BTC” (2008)
• Oguz Dilek, “The political economy of post-Cold War US global strategy in the ‘greater’ Middle East”  (2008)
• Hüseyin ISIKSAL "Asymmetric Negotiations: Dichotomous International Order and Turkey-EU Relations  (2009)
• Michael Vishnevetsky "Youth gangs and terrorism in Chechnya: recruitment, activities and networks  (2009)
• Ioannis Sotiriou, “The European Responses to the Yugoslav crisis, with a particular emphasis on the French, British and German positions” (2009)
• Peshawa Muhammed, "US Perspectives on Kurdish Independence from Iraq, 1972-2011" (2012)
• Ercan Aslantas, "The European States System and Ottoman-Russian Relations, 1815-1856" (2012)
• Zehra Azizbeyli, "Contesting Memories and National Identity in Cyprus" (2014)
• Ilia Xypolia, "Western Intervention and National Identity in Cyprus" (2014)
• Mustafa Demir, "Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards Kurdistan Region of Iraq" (2015)
• Taha Ozhan, "The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East since 2002"  (2015)
• Ozcan Sahin, "Turkey's Middle Eastern pendulum under contesting geopolitical mentalities and representations (1923-2010)"  (2016)

 Current PhD students:

1. Seref Kavak, "Kurdish Diaspora in the UK"

2. Shehla Khan, "Identity and Representation in Turkey and Pakistan"

3. Mustafa Yasacan, "Turkey and Russia in the Cold War"

4. Salih Car, "Economic Secularism and Emerging Economies"

5. Aslihan Cap, "US foreign policy in the Middle East and Syrian crisis"

Further information is available about studying in SPIRE, including funding available for pursuing a doctoral research degree.

Global Faultlines

The Journal of Global Faultlines is a peer-reviewed, open-access, academic journal, published by Pluto Press, currently twice a year. The journal seeks to bring cutting-edge theoretical and critical reflection to bear on dominant and/or mainstream debates within international and global studies, and is committed to publish original theoretical debates, empirically-based investigations and policy discussions.

Editors:

Bulent Gokay, Keele University (Founding Editor)

Ilia Xypolia, University of Aberdeen (Book reviews Editor)

The Journal of Global Faultlines attempts to cover the evolving current world situation by looking at global problems from a variety of different and overlapping perspectives: economic, political, philosophical, cultural, educational, geographical, social, and historical, among many others. The journal aims to provide ongoing open forums to discuss and analyze global problems and developments from critical perspectives or viewpoints, and thus improve understanding of the underlying forces shaping the destiny of the world in the 21^st century.  To this end the journal also encourages contributions from writers and disciplines that are not commonly associated with the study of the aforementioned academic fields of study.

Contributions from scholars working around the globe are particularly welcome.

The journal endorses a full peer review process, consisting of editorial selection followed by at least two anonymous peer-reviewers. The journal, currently published electronically only, will be published in hard (paper) copy as well from the beginning of 2017 by Pluto Journals. 

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD SERIAL NUMBER (ISSN):  2054-2089 for electronic version and 2397-7825 for paper copy

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GlobalFaultlines is a magazine branch of the Journal.

Global Faultlines is an online magazine of global political economy, politics and culture.

The Global Faultlines is a forum for the emerging patterns and perspectives of the 21st Century and the discussions and debates flowing from the current powerful transformation and set of related problems. We aim to encourage open and constructive dialogue, a platform which seeks to promote information, analysis, and opinion on various aspects of this process of historical change by providing various interpretations/ comments and reviews that are relevant to the analysis of this multidimensional process from a plurality of democratic perspectives. The site also seeks to promote original reports, analysis and debates, and short polemical interventions on topics of political significance conceived from critical perspectives from all corners of the globe. We are also interested in work that would be difficult to classify as belonging solely in either of these groups.

The site is updated on a rolling basis as new material is received and edited. Global Faultlines website publishes constructive and thoughtful comments from readers.

PhD Supervision

I can supervise research students in the following areas:

* Global Political Economy, decline of the West/ North and the rise of Emerging Powers in the Global East/ South

* Turkish Politics and History

* Oil Politics and Energy Security in Eurasia

I have supervised, as Lead Supervisor, 17 PhD students to successful completion.

Successful Doctoral completions:

• Drosili Hamourtziadou, “National Truths: Justifications and Self-Justifications of Three Nationalisms in Bosnia-Herzegovina” (2001)
• Yoshihiko Mizumoto, “Counselling America, Involving the Soviet Union: Winston Churchill's Strategy for Britain's Revival, 1951-1955” (2002)
• Hasene Karasac, “The Torn Countries, Turkey and Russia, in the post-Cold War Era: in search of Identity” (2003)
• Kelly Hignett, “The Politics of Organised Crime in East Central Europe” (2005)
• Ahmet Ozturk, “Management of trans-boundary mega-projects in the post-Cold War Eurasia: the case studies of GAP water and Baku-Ceyhan pipeline projects” (2006)
• Emre Iseri, “The US grand strategy and the Eurasian heartland in the 21st century: with special reference to the main Caspian oil pipeline BTC” (2008)
• Oguz Dilek, “The political economy of post-Cold War US global strategy in the ‘greater’ Middle East”  (2008)
• Hüseyin ISIKSAL "Asymmetric Negotiations: Dichotomous International Order and Turkey-EU Relations  (2009)
• Michael Vishnevetsky "Youth gangs and terrorism in Chechnya: recruitment, activities and networks  (2009)
• Ioannis Sotiriou, “The European Responses to the Yugoslav crisis, with a particular emphasis on the French, British and German positions” (2009)
• Peshawa Muhammed, "US Perspectives on Kurdish Independence from Iraq, 1972-2011" (2012)
• Ercan Aslantas, "The European States System and Ottoman-Russian Relations, 1815-1856" (2012)
• Zehra Azizbeyli, "Contesting Memories and National Identity in Cyprus" (2014)
• Ilia Xypolia, "Western Intervention and National Identity in Cyprus" (2014)
• Mustafa Demir, "Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards Kurdistan Region of Iraq" (2015)
• Taha Ozhan, "The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East since 2002"  (2015)
• Ozcan Sahin, "Turkey's Middle Eastern pendulum under contesting geopolitical mentalities and representations (1923-2010)"  (2016)

Current PhD students:

1. Seref Kavak, "Kurdish Diaspora in the UK"

2. Shehla Khan, "Identity and Representation in Turkey and Pakistan"

3. Mustafa Yasacan, "Turkey and Russia in the Cold War"

4. Salih Car, "Economic Secularism and Emerging Economies"

5. Aslihan Cap, "US foreign policy in the Middle East and Syrian crisis"