Civil Society and Autocratisation : Co-Optation, Repression and Contestation in Turkey

Dr. Bilge Yabanci holds a dual appointment at Deusto University (Spain) as an assistant professor of research funded by the Ikerbasque Foundation of the Basque Government and as a Ramón y Cajal Fellow funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Previously, she was a Marie Curie Global Fellow at Northwestern University (USA) and Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy), an Open Society Fellow in the Human Rights Cohort, and a Swedish Institute Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Yabanci's research focuses on social movements and the transformation of civil society and civic space under autocratization. Her previous work also explores populism, the interplay between populism, religion, and nationalism, and the role of emotions and performance in political mobilisation. In her current research program, Dr Yabanci examines social marginalisation to explore potential pathways for attitudinal and behavioural shifts towards stigmatised and vulnerable groups, including refugees and asylum seekers. Her articles have been published in leading journals such as Government and Opposition, Journal of Civil Society, Ethnopolitics, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Politics, Religion & Ideology, Southeast Europe and Black Sea Studies, Religion, State and Society, and International Spectator.