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Reuben Silverman

About me

I am a Researcher at the Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS), located in the Department of Economic History and International Relations. My work focuses on the political and economic history of Turkey during the 1950s, as the country became integrated into American-led security and economic institutions. I aim to understand how this process of integration affected the process of democratization during these years. In addition, I am attentive to current developments in Turkey as well. My writings can be found at on my personal website. I have published in online magazines intended for academics (Jadaliyya), policymakers (Turkey Analyst), and the general public (Foreign Policy). I earned a PhD in Middle Eastern history from Univeristy of California, San Diego (2014-2022) and an MA in International Relations from the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies (2010-2012).

Publications

Recent Publications:

“Show (and Tell) Trials: Competing Narratives of Turkey’s Democrat Party Era” Turkish Studies 23, no. 1 (2022): 147-167

Borderline Personalities: Lives at the Political, Social, and Geographic Edges of Modern Turkey (Istanbul: Libra Press, 2021)

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Süreyya Ağaoğlu and the emerging liberal order in early Cold War Turkey

    2023. Reuben Silverman. Middle Eastern Studies, 1-16

    Article

    This article discusses the life, career, and associations of Süreyya Ağaoğlu, Turkey’s first female lawyer, in the years leading up to Turkey’s watershed 1950 election, in order to understand Turkey’s liberal opposition. Considering her writings and experiences reveals not only the contested nature of liberalism in this period but also ways in which postwar liberalism was intertwined with the networks undergirding the emerging American-led Cold War order. Not only did she interact in her professional life with champions of liberalism from around the world, but she was also connected through her family to important figures in Turkey’s own liberal tradition. Her experience as both a product of the ‘Kemalist’ state-building project and a critic of its excesses helps us think about the nature of political opposition during Turkey’s late 1940s democratization.

    Read more about Süreyya Ağaoğlu and the emerging liberal order in early Cold War Turkey

  • Victory, Even in Defeat: Ümit Özdağ, Sinan Oğan, and the Enduring Influence of the Turkish Far-Right

    2024. Reuben Silverman. Elections and Earthquakes, 105-116

    Chapter

    Where does Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s resilience derive from? Why did he, and the AKP, win the double May 2023 elections again? How did the opposition perform? What were the opposition’s mistakes? How will domestic and foreign policy issues unfold after the elections?These are just a few of the questions the present collection tries to answer. Demonstrating how Turkey’s politics have developed the present volume brings together approaches from politics, sociology, and history, and sheds much-needed light on these crucial questions. They offer scholars and non-specialists alike a comprehensive overview of the implications of the recent elections in almost every aspect of Turkish society. Finally, the chapters that are hosted here provide informed deliberations about Turkey’s future.

    Read more about Victory, Even in Defeat

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