Sedef Topal

• Ph. D. Washington State University
• M.A., University of Szeged, Hungary 
• B.A., Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey

I specialize in International Relations and Comparative Politics. My research centers on civil conflict processes, rebel group behavior, and Middle East and African politics. Here are some courses I teach: POL 105: Introduction to International Relations, POL 240: Political Psychology, POL 241: Civil War and Conflict Resolution, POL 256: Middle Eastern Politics, and POL 258: African Politics. My courses are often based on active discussions and in-class activities where students learn how to apply political science theories to a wide range of real-life cases.

My work has been published in Political Psychology, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Civil Wars, and the Afrobarometer Working Papers Series. My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Carnegie Foundation of New York, and Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy. I have conducted fieldwork in Zimbabwe, focusing on ethnic communities to examine whether external interventions can reshape post-conflict social trust in southern Africa. I have also worked on a USAID-funded project regarding armed group recruitment and mobilization in northern Ghana. I am currently working on two co-authored and two solo-authored manuscripts for publication. In addition to these manuscripts, I plan to turn my dissertation into a book project.