Spyros SofosThe London School of Economics and Political Science | LSE · Middle East Centre
Spyros Sofos
Doctor of Philosophy
About
54
Publications
3,861
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
262
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Political antagonism & social identity formation have been central in my research on conflict, nationalism, ethnicity & populism. This has taken many forms from the study of “populist nationalism” in SE Europe to populist politics marked by extrainstitutional “street democracy”, to nationalism & populism in Turkey. It also informs my project on European Muslim identities in 5 EU cities, urban protest & citizenship incl my LSE-based "Urban ecologies of belonging and exclusion" project.
Additional affiliations
June 2013 - present
Position
- In Search of a Model for the Middle East: A comparison of the Turkish and Nordic Experiences På spaning efter en modell för Mellanöstern: En jämförande studie av turkiska och nordiska erfarenheter:
Description
- A Riksbankens Jubileumsfond-funded research project casting a critical look on the transition/democratization model discourses for MENA countries with emphasis to the 'Nordic' and 'Turkish' models.
January 2012 - present
Position
- Politics at the threshold of the 21st century: New forms of collective action and protest
Description
- An examination of emerging forms of collective action in local and translocal contexts.
January 2012 - January 2017
Education
December 2019 - December 2020
September 1981 - December 1985
Field of study
- Political Science and International Studies
Publications
Publications (54)
This article constitutes an attempt to put forward some suggestions towards constructing a framework of understanding the processes of social construction of sexuality and gender identity within the context of the ethnic conflict, and of nationalist/populist politics in former Yugoslavia. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which masculinist d...
"Tormented by History" is the first comparative study of nationalism in Greece and Turkey. Grounded in an extensive critical review of the popular and scholarly historiography and literature on Greek and Turkish nationalisms, it traces the emergence and development of the Greek and Turkish nationalist projects over the past two hundred years, chall...
This article provides an outline of domestic responses within Turkey to its long and, at times, volatile relationship with the EC/EU. After an examination of the main parameters within which Turkish politics have developed since the establishment of the Turkish Republic, including the dynamics of the processes of political modernization, the articl...
Turkish Politics and ‘The People’ enhances our understanding of ‘the popular’ in the study of politics through a critical examination of the uses and constructions of ‘the people’ from the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, to the present. It proposes ways of reading the insertion and operationalisation of the notion of ‘the people’ as...
Over the past decade, Turkey has become a significant actor in the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, largely through its development and peacebuilding engagement, and its cultural and commercial penetration within these regions. This involvement has varied in response to both domestic and international developments, allowing Turkey to proj...
Son on yıl içerisinde, Türkiye Ortadoğu, Kuzey ve Sahra Altı Afrika’da önemli bir aktör olarak ortaya çıktı. Bu büyük oranda kalkınma ve barış inşası alanındaki hamleleri ve bu bölgelerdeki kültürel ve ticari faaliyetleri sayesinde mümkün oldu. Türkiye’nin çabaları hem iç siyasetteki hem de uluslararası arenadaki gelişmelere göre değişkenlik göster...
Over the past decade, as ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) initiated Turkey's authoritarian populist turn, it sought to derive legitimacy through extra-institutional avenues, notably the emotional appeal to the repressed "people", advancing the party's socio-political vision, countering the arguments of its political opponents and reaching...
In this article we present a case analysis of Sahar Khodayari’s transformation into a global injustice icon, the #BlueGirl, after she set herself ablaze outside a courthouse in Tehran, Iran, allegedly in protest against the ban on women entering football stadiums. We focus on the ways in which ‘pity’ was generated, mobilized, and transformed into i...
https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41518/What-Is-in-a-Place-Hagia-Sophia-in-the-Affective-Topography-of-Populism-in-Turkey-41518
This article examines the politics of pity deployed by Iranian activists against the football stadium ban imposed on Iranian women and its impact on individual and collective histories of suffering and struggle of Iran's women in the pursuit of attaining citizenship
Europe is in the midst of a generational transformation that is as much rooted in a complex constellation of socio-economic crises, as it is the product of an ideological revolution, championed by the far-right, in which the Western Balkans, in particular, have become a veritable totem for real and imagined problems confronting the EU and “the West...
Through the construction of a Palestinian diasporic topography of Malmö, this chapter focuses on the interrelationship of multiple spaces of action and interaction of Palestinians, locally and transnationally. In addition, given the different identifications and migration trajectories of Malmö Palestinians (originating in the West Bank, Gaza but al...
The “nativisation” of welfare provision implicitly accepts the SD’s redefinition of refugees as undeserving others and gives credence to its chauvinistic welfare policies. Not only does the restriction of entitlements to non-native Swedes effectively constitute a symbolic bordering practice that circumscribes a restrictive and nativistic understand...
This chapter attempts to make sense of the ongoing struggle to name/define and give specific direction and purpose to the Gezi protests, an outburst of collective action and mass mobilization that took Turkey aback and prompted a violent and uncompromising response from an increasingly authoritarian government. It examines the emergence and brief c...
A recording of a public lecture on the Islamic state
This chapter sketches some of the societal dynamics that Gezi protests have expressed and the ways in which they constitute a significant departure from both the conceptualization and practice of politics in contemporary Turkey, through an interrogation of the politics of space that has occupied center stage in the protests.
This chapter sketches some of the societal dynamics that Gezi protests have expressed and the ways in which they constitute a significant departure from both the conceptualization and practice of politics in contemporary Turkey, through an interrogation of the politics of space that has occupied center stage in the protests. © Palgrave Macmillan, a...
Islam in Europe delves into the daily routines of European Muslim communities in order to provide a better understanding of what it means to be a European Muslim today. Instead of positing particular definitions of being Muslim, this volume invites and encourages a diverse body of 735 informants from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and th...
The main propositions put forward by this article are that the name dispute between
Greece and the Republic of Macedonia (a) has been approached by both parties and the
international community in an unimaginative and highly legalistic way, stripped of its dynamic
and continuously evolving nature and (b) constitutes just one dimension of a broader l...
The presence of Islam in Europe is not new, indeed, shortly after the establishment of the Muslim Caliphate, and the Muslim expansion of the eighth century, much of Europe lay under Muslim rule. Islam and the religious, philosophical, scientific and political innovations it fostered not only influenced but also became part of Europe, and the collec...
So far we have attempted to outline the current debate regarding the presence of Muslim communities in Europe and sketched a genealogy of the relationship between Islam and Europe. But, so far, perhaps the most important question — in fact, set of interrelated questions — has remained unanswered in the background of our discussion.
Over the past decade, Islam has gradually assumed an unenviable position in European public debate as it has been represented and understood as equivalent, or conducive to, cultural and religious fundamentalism, political extremism and terrorism. This has affected significantly European Muslims and their communities as, by being systematically posi...
The complex narrative fabric that constitutes the experiential frames through which European Muslims situate themselves in European societies is not, however, exclusively premised on the construction of injustice frames and is by no means singularly derived from the experience of collective trauma. Although our research findings indicate that this...
As we have seen, the technologies of time-space distantiation employed by the various media used by European Muslims (as well as similar technologies that make physical mobility much easier and faster) have substantially altered the experiences of presence and absence through their capability to overcome distance and boundaries and to bring remote...
If one tried to fashion a map capturing the loci in which European Muslim lives unfold, where European Muslims derive their experiences from, interact with each other and with ‘others’, engage in various forms of social action and reflect on and construct their identities, they would have to find ways of depicting and making sense of a fluid and co...
This study has attempted to shed some light in a subject that, although central in European public debate, has customarily been approached in a rather emotionally charged way. Muslim lives in Europe have become the object of public concern and scrutiny, Muslim cultures have been shunned upon and most attempts to articulate a legitimate and audible...
The emergence of the Greek and Turkish nationalist projects, although not contemporaneous, was the outcome of the rapid transformations experienced by the subjects of the Ottoman Empire at a time when European imperialist powers were expanding their spheres of influence and progressively incorporating the Ottoman territories in the modern European...
Nationalist projects always look back in time, seeking to demonstrate the ‘linear time of the nation’, its undisputed diachronic presence. Although the timing and the circumstances of the emergence of Greek and Turkish nationalisms are not identical, both projects were informed by the hegemony of Western European modernity and its prevailing attitu...
European Islam constitutes a veritable laboratory of identity, marked by polyphony, convergence and contestation. Muslims in Europe are looking for sources of inspiration, tradition and authority; they are developing meanings and repertoires of collective action that allow them to root themselves in societies that are often ambivalent about their p...
Elliniko Kentro Evropaikon Meleton: Valkania, Examiniaia Ekthesi [Hellenic Centre for European Studies: Balkans, Biannual Report], No. 10, December 1997, edited by Dr A. Fakiolas. Pp.96. Drs 3000. ISSN 11069724
The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of gl...
Questions
Questions (7)
I am drafting an impact strategy document for a major research programme and I would appreciate any suggestion of good strategy documents and best practice examples
I am trying to identify innovative work on fostering democratic dialogue in polarised societies such as Britain and Turkey today. Creating common ground, building trust, respect and tolerance, understanding the process of polarization are possible subthemes. Thank you in advance for any input.
Are women more inclined to support populist agendas? If you are doing research on this topic or know of relevant research, please get in touch.
I am a member of a Lund University team working in building a post-conflict research network. This will bring together scholars and practitioners working on reconstruction of social fabrics and physical/technical infrastructure, institution building, rehabilitation of populations, memory, justice and reconciliation, transitions to post authoritarianism, overcoming polarization, building respect, trust and democratic dialogue. We envisage creating a community that will exchange views, share best practice and state of the art research and serve as an incubator for the development of collaborative projects
We are looking for expressions of interest to participate as well as ideas of further areas of research/practice to include. We look forward to hearing from you
I want to examine any possible shifts or slippages in the notion of hijra historically
I am looking for contributors to an edited collection on this topic
I am conducting research on the 'Swedish' or 'Nordic Model' and its applicability in societies in transition. I am particularly interested in studies that do not confine themselves to the welfare state or the economic model but focus on social organization, interpersonal relations, multiculturalism, democracy etc.
Projects
Projects (8)
I am a co-coordinator of a Lund University-based international team building a post-conflict research and practice network. This brings together scholars and practitioners working on reconstruction of social fabrics and physical/technical infrastructure, institution building, rehabilitation of populations, memory, justice and reconciliation, transitions to post authoritarianism, overcoming polarization, building respect, trust and democratic dialogue. We are creating a community that will exchange views, share best practice and state of the art research and serve as an incubator for the development of collaborative projects,
#rethinkingPopulism, in partnership with openDemocracy.net, envisages bringing together voices in research on populism that don’t often interact, either because they belong to different fields of work, or as a result of geographical distance. Our aim is to contribute to a vigorous and constructive debate and the cross-fertilization of different strands within the populism theoretical oeuvre.
Project MOSAIC is premised on the belief that combatting the crisis of contemporary democracies requires
• the exploration and cultivation of values conducive to understanding the standpoint of collective others, respecting difference and challenging exclusivist and adversarial understandings of the political.
• the promotion of respect of human rights and human security for all
Our primary aim is to create a network of scholars from Sweden and Turkey as well as from Nordic, other European and Middle-Eastern countries to build a transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and intercultural platform for fruitful dialogue on issues like morals, solidarity and civility in our respective societies.
Acknowledging that civility as a key value in a democratic society is under pressure in regards to building up trust among morally acting individual citizens who respect each other’s basic rights and fundamental liberties, Project MOSAIC intends to address these intertwined processes through a series of workshops, regular small scale roundtables and the production of relevant academic and policy-oriented publications focusing on Turkey in the first instance.
Project MOSAIC additionally aims to encourage and stimulate research to facilitate a better understanding of challenges to democratic dialogic processes.
