EDUCATION
Kent State University, Kent - Ohio
Ph.D. Candidate (degree expected May 2009) Political Science: 2003–Present.
Marmara University, Istanbul - Turkey
M.A., International Relations and Political History: 1996–1999.
Thesis Title: The Caspian Oil and Its Role on Regional Politics (in Turkish).
Middle East Technical University, Ankara – Turkey
B.Sc., Political Science and Public Administration, 1990–1994.
ADDITIONAL TRAINING AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITY
American University of Central Asia, Bishkek – Kyrgyzstan
Research Fellow at Social Research Center, September 2007- January 2008
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign – Illinois
Participant, Summer Research Lab and Workshop on Central Asia, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, June11 - August 3, 2007.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor–Michigan
Participant ICPSR Four Week Competitive Summer Workshop: June 27-July 23, 2004
University of Virginia, Charlottesville – Virginia
Social Change Workshop by Institute for Humane Studies of George Mason University: June 19-25, 2004.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Quantitative and qualitative research methods, Post-Soviet politics (especially Russia and Central Asia), political economy, banking sector, political and economic development, and migration.
RESEARCH
My dissertation research is about labor migration from rural Central Asia, and its developmental effects to the sending regions. The research question in my dissertation project is “Why does productive investment (with migrants’ remittances) occur in some countries (or communities) and not in others?”
After the Soviet Union, newly independent Kyrgyzstan has been following relatively liberal economic policies; however, Uzbekistan has preferred gradualist economic transition policies. Another significant difference between these two countries is that Uzbekistan is a medium size and middle income country with a more authoritarian government that follows statist developmental policies, while Kyrgyzstan is a small size and low income country with a relatively more democratic government that follows laissez-faire developmental policies. On the other hand, these two nations have so many similarities, especially in regards to their cultural and social spheres. Both of them are landlocked agrarian economies with an unlimited supply of labor; ethnically and linguistically Turkic, Sunni Muslim, approximately two thirds of their population live in rural areas, birthrate, life expectancy, social ceremonies, life-cycle events, customs are so similar.
Despite differing political strategies, these two countries, interestingly, have had very similar economic and social development outcomes by now. According to the UNDP’s recent (2005) human development index, Kyrgyzstan ranks 114th and Uzbekistan 113th in the world. This [may] show that the [weak] performance of these two countries, despite the variation in their regimes, stems from some internal dynamics. And I will look for potential answer to this puzzle in the state-society relations.
e-mail: kaslan1@kent.edu and kursadaslan@gmail.com
You can find more and updated information about me and my research in my personal web page: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~kaslan/