Evan Liaras 2010 - College of Administrative Sciences & Economics

Evangelos Liaras 25is Martiou 79
Thessaloniki 54248 Greece
E-mail: liaras@mit.edu
Education
Ph.D. Political Science 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.S. Political Science 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dissertation Title:
Ballot box and Tinderbox: Can Electoral Engineering Rescue Multiethnic Democracy?
Dissertation Committee:
Roger Petersen (chair), Orit Kedar, Chappell Lawson, Jonathan Rodden (Stanford)
Awards and Distinctions:
- Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
- Alexander Onassis Foundation Fellowship
- A.G. Leventis Foundation Fellowship
- Harvard University Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies fellowship
- APSA British Politics Group Donald Stokes Fellowship
- MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice Fellowship
- MIT Center for International Studies ETIA Fellowship
Affiliations:
- Security Studies Program (SSP)
- Identity Politics Group
A.B. History, magna cum laude 2000 Harvard University
Thesis Title: Mediterranean Cuba: the 1964 Cyprus Crisis and the Acheson Plan
Awards and Distinctions:
- John Harvard Scholarship
- Detur Prize for academic excellence
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies Fellowship
- Warren Center for American History Fellowship
- Institute of Politics Fellowship
- Harvard College Research Program Fellowship
Summer Programs in Turkey:
Languages
2003 Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey
2002 Bogazici University Istanbul, Turkey
2000 TÖMER Istanbul, Turkey
Greek (native)
French, Spanish, Turkish (advanced)
German, Italian, Bosnian, Sinhalese (elementary)
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Work Experience
2009-2010 Koç University Istanbul, Turkey Post-Doctoral Fellow
Collaborating with Prof. Murat Somer from the Department of International
Relations on a project regarding political Islam and identity politics in Turkey
2009 ICES Colombo, Sri Lanka Visiting Researcher
2008 Queen’s University Belfast Visiting Researcher
2007-2008 Middle East Technical University Visiting Researcher
2007 Government Department, Harvard University Teaching Fellow
Taught sections for Comparative Politics of Latin America (Prof. Steve Levitsky)
2005 OSCE Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina Intern
Worked in OSCE Elections Department and the National Election Commission
2004-2005 The Greek Institute Cambridge, MA Instructor
Designed and taught courses in Modern Greek language and history
2001-2006 Political Science Department, MIT Research/Teaching Assistant
Conducted research for Prof. Roger Petersen on Greek-Albanian relations and
civil-military relations in Africa and taught recitation for courses on comparative
politics (Prof. Chappell Lawson), American foreign policy, and causes of war
(Prof. Steve Van Evera)
1998 – 2000 Economics Department, Harvard University Grader
1996 – 2000 Harvard International Review Editor
Papers and Publications
“Countering Fear in War: the Strategic Use of Emotion” (with Roger Petersen), Journal
of Military Ethics, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Winter 2006): 317-333
“Turkey's Party System and the Paucity of Minority Policy Reform,” RSCAS Working
Papers Series, (European University Institute: Italy, 2009/56)
“Religious-Conservative and Secular Elite Values and Turkey’s New Kurdish Opening”
(with Murat Somer, pending publication by Middle East Policy)
“The Settler Dimension of the Sri Lankan Conflict” (under consideration for volume on
settler conflicts edited by Ian Lustick)
“Nationalist Voting in Post-War Bosnia-Herzegovina,” (with Apostolos Karabairis, revise
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and resubmit, Electoral Studies)
“Political Armies, Militarized Politics: Civil-Military Relations in Turkey and Greece”
(Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Professional Conferences
APSA Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada September 2009
Presented results of dissertation research on electoral engineering
10 th Mediterranean Research Meeting, EUI, Florence, Italy March 2009
Presented paper on “The Turkish Party System and Minority Policy Reform”
APSA Annual Conference, Boston August 2008
Presented paper titled “The Limits of Electoral Engineering in Turkey”
ASN-Sciences Po Conference, Paris, France July 2008
Presented paper on “Ottoman Legacies in Civil-Military Relations”
Mitchell Conference, Queen's University Belfast May 2008
Presented paper in special workshop on Cyprus and Divided Societies
11 th annual ASN Conference, Columbia University April 2007
Presented paper on “Post-Dayton Elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina”
Harvard-Yale-MIT Grad Student Conference on Civil Conflict April 2007
Organizer and presenter in panel on post-conflict political institutions
APSA Annual Conference, Philadelphia August 2006
Presented dissertation proposal “Electoral Engineering in Multi-Ethnic States”
64 th MPSA Annual National Conference, Chicago April 2006
Presented paper titled “Two Modernization Paths in Civil-Military Relations”
Institute on Qualitative Research Methods, ASU, Phoenix January 2006
Presented research design “Ethnic Demography and Electoral Engineering”
9 th annual ASN Conference, Columbia University April 2005
Presented paper on “Civil Military Relations in Greece and Turkey” (1 st prize)
8 th annual ASN Conference, Columbia University April 2004
Presented paper on “The Acheson and Annan Plans in comparative perspective”
METU 2 nd International Relations Conference, METU, Ankara June 2003
Presented paper titled “Turkish sources on the 1964 Cyprus Crisis”
ELIAMEP International Seminar, Halki, Greece September 2002
Participated in seminar by Greece’s leading foreign policy think tank
References
Prof. Roger Petersen, MIT Department of Political Science
++1-617-253-6781, rpeters@mit.edu
Prof. Orit Kedar, MIT Department of Political Science/Hebrew University of Jerusalem
++1-617-324-5652/++972-2-588-3162, okedar@mit.edu
Prof. Chappell Lawson, MIT Department of Political Science
++1-617-253-3524, clawson@mit.edu
Dr. Neophytos Loizides, QUB School of Politics, International Studies, and Philosophy
++44-28-9097-3231, n.loizides@qub.ac.uk
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