Dr Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek
Key expertise
governance of migration, diaspora politics, comparative migration policies, return
(Academic) education / CV:
Zeynep received her PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Southern California in 2011. Previously, she served as an assistant professor in Turkey and achieved the rank of Docent in the field of International Relations in 2018. She held a fellowship at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research in Duisburg from March 2019 to February 2020 to conduct research on polycentric governance, emerging transnationalism and grassroots community organisations of Syrian refugees. She served as Senior Research Fellow (2017–2020) for the Horizon2020 project titled RESPOND: Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond . She prepared co-authored research reports on the legal and institutional framework of refugee governance, border controls, and international protection in Turkey as well as comparative reports of asylum regimes and integration. She is a visiting fellow at the Institute for Peace and Development, University of Duisburg-Essen and is part of the Humboldt Research Fellowship Program for Experienced Researchers in the framework of which she is conducting a comparative research on the governance of refugee returns.
Her research focuses on the governance of migration, foreign policy-migration nexus, migration narratives, comparative policies and politics in the Global South, and diaspora politics.
Recent Publications:
- Fakhoury, T., & Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2023). The Geopolitics of Return Migration in the International System. Special Issue of Geopolitics, 1-20.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Gökalp Aras, N., Kaya, A., & Rottmann, S. B. (2023). Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Between Reception and Integration.: Springer Cham.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2023). The Role of Return Preparedness, Assistance and Networks in Returnees’ Reintegration in Origin Countries (Synthesis Report) (BICC Working Paper series No. /2023). Bonn: BICC.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Tsourapas, G. (2022). When Do States Repatriate Refugees? Evidence from the Middle East. Journal of Global Security Studies, 8(1), .
- Kayaoglu, A., Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Chang, C.-A. (2022). Challenges and Resilience Strategies of Urban Refugee Entrepreneurs, Economic Research Forum, Working Paper No. 1601.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2022). The Geopolitics of Returns: Geopolitical Reasoning and Space-Making in Turkey’s Repatriation Regime. Geopolitics, 27 (3), 1-27.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2022). The Institutionalization of “Voluntary” Returns in Turkey. Migration and Society: Advances in Research, 5, 43–58.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Barthoma, S., Gökalp Aras, N., & Triandafyllidou, A. (2022). A crisis mode in migration governance: comparative and analytical insights. Comparative Migration Studies, 10, 1-19.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2022). Voluntary and Forced Return Migration Under a Pandemic Crisis. In A. Triandafyllidou (Ed.), Migration and Pandemics. Spaces of Solidarity and Spaces of Exception (IMISCOE Research Series) (pp. 185-206). Cham: Springer.
- Kaya, A., Rottmann, S. B., Gökalp Aras, N., & Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2021). Turkey: Border Management, Protection, Reception, and Integration of Refugees. In S. Barthoma, & A. O. Cetrez (Eds.), RESPONDing to Migration: A Holistic Perspective on Migration Governance (pp. 187-208). Uppsala: Uppsala University.
- Gökalp Aras, N., Papatzani, E., Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Leivaditi, N., & Petracou, E. (2021). Governance of Refugee Protection: Challenges in Europe and Beyond. In S. Barthoma, & A. O. Cetrez (Eds.), RESPONDing to Migration. A Holistic Perspective on Migration Governance (pp. 123-146). Uppsala: Uppsala University.
- Koinova, M., Deloffre, M. Z., Gadinger, F., Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Scholte, J. A., & Steffek, J. (2021). It’s Ordered Chaos: What Really Makes Polycentrism Work. International Studies Review, pp. 1-31. Oxford: Oxford Academic.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., & Kayaoglu, A. (2021). Return Aspirations of Syrian Refugees in Turkey. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, pp. 1-23.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Karal, D., & Altıntop, . (2021). Governance of Refugee Children Protection in Turkey: Between Vulnerability and Paternalism . Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, pp. 1-15.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Barthoma, S., & Gökalp Aras, N. (2021). Governance of migration in and through crisis: A comparative report on RESPOND research (Working Paper 2021/77). RESPOND: Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond Project#770564 Horizon2020.https://www.respondmigration.com/wp-blog/.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2021). Narratives on returning refugees, asylum seekers, and irregular migrants (Working paper no. 2021/2). Toronto: Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement/CERC in Migration and Integration.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2021). Governing practices and strategic narratives for the Syrian refugee returns. Journal of Refugee Studies, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feaa121.
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Gökalp Aras, N., & Balamir Coşkun, B. (2021). Turkey’s response to Syrian mass migration: A neoclassical realist analysis. Uluslararasi Iliskiler / International Relations, 17(68), 93-111.
- Nashwan, A., & Şahin-Mencütek, Z. (2020). The employment of Syrians in Jordan: Main trends and challenges. MENASP Network (November 2020 Guest Blog Post). https://www.menasp.com/en/opinion/the-employment-of-syrians-in-jordan-main-trends-and-challenges/.
- Gökalp Aras, N., Papatzani, E., Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Leivaditi, N., & Petracou, E. (2020). Refugee protection in Europe and beyond – Comparative report. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3975028.
