Fatih Serkant Adıgüzel

Fatih Serkant Adıgüzel is an assistant professor at Sabancı University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a non-resident fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Middle East Initiative. He obtained his Ph.D. from the political science department at Duke University in 2022. He also holds a BA in Economics, a BA in Political Science & International Relations, and an MA in Economics, all from Boğaziçi University. During his Ph.D. studies, he worked in Devlab@Duke as part of the Machine Learning for Peace project.

Adıgüzel specializes in political economy and political methodology. His research interests lie at the intersection of the political economy of democratic backsliding, digital media, and public services. He is particularly interested in how democratically elected leaders erode democracies while consolidating popular support. His research focuses on two mechanisms through which such leaders build and maintain support: first, their attempts to capture the media and the resulting media bias, and second, the strategic deployment of public services. To tackle these research questions, he employs various methods such as natural language processing, geospatial analyses, and experimental and quasi-experimental designs. His research has been published/forthcoming in journals such as the Journal of Politics, Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, and New Perspectives on Turkey.