About Me
Hi! I’m Betul Ozturan, a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Boston College, where I study how rebel groups evolve into political actors, and how power-sharing institutions emerge in post-conflict societies. My work sits at the intersection of international relations, comparative politics, and political violence—asking questions like: When does armed conflict give way to democracy? Why do some rebel groups gain legitimacy while others don’t? How do alliances during war shape the political institutions that follow?
My dissertation project investigates rebel group alliances and their long-term influence on postwar governance. To do this, I combine computational methods—like text analysis, social network analysis, and event data modeling with case studies in places like Bosnia and Syria. I also work with large datasets on political violence, often building tools that help researchers and the public better understand conflict dynamics.
What is going on?
My most recent publication, “How Students and the Public Define Terrorism, and How Education Affects Those Definitions”, was published in the Terrorism & Political Violence (2025).
I have presented my research on rebel relations at IC2S2 July 23, 2025 (virtual), PolNet 2025 at Harvard, APSA 2025 (virtual), and CRS 2025 (in Kent, UK), and will be presenting at ISA 2025.
I have completed Network Analysis I ,Network Analysis II and Data visualization courses at ICPSR with the support of EITM scholarship.
I have published a research essay ”From conflict to consensus: Power-sharing and the path to democracy” on Clough Center Journal 2025.
Education
Before starting my Ph.D. in the U.S., I completed a double M.A. in International Security Studies from Charles University in Prague, and another in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Konstanz in Germany. My master’s thesis introduced the POLVITED dataset—a merged conflict event database for Türkiye—where I applied machine learning and spatial visualization to track patterns in political violence. I also participated in the ICPSR Summer Program at the University of Michigan and the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS).
I hold a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, where I also minored in Economics and spent a semester at The American University in Cairo as an exchange student.
Teaching
Over the past four years, I’ve taught and assisted in a range of undergraduate courses, including:
- Introduction to International Relations (2024, 2025)
- Global Governance (2023)
- Internet and Politics (2022)
- Introduction to Turkish Politics (2017)
- Python for Social and Economic Data Science (2019)
Other things I do
In addition to my dissertation work, I’ve conducted field research in Ukraine, worked on projects like the Political Violence Lab and Western Jihadism Project, and presented at major conferences including APSA, ISA, and MPSA. I’ve also been fortunate to receive fellowships and support from the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
If you’re interested in my work, want to collaborate, or just want to chat about rebel group strategies or visualizing conflict data —feel free to reach out!