Julian de Medeiros

Julian de Medeiros is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Kent. He specializes in Turkish and Brazilian politics, and is currently researching state responses to protest movements in global swing states.

The wall isn’t a state of emergency but a state of exception

The German legal scholar and Nazi ideologue Carl Schmitt described a ‘State of Exception’ as the process by which a sovereign leader can transcend the rule of law in the name of the public good.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 16 Feb 2019

Like Erdogan, Trump is using conspiracy theory to sabotage democracy: here’s what we learn from the Turkish experience

The accusation of conspiracy within the State is not just a red herring, it is a strategy meant to turn American democracy against itself.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 8 Feb 2018

Turkish academics know the danger of post-truth. We can learn from their experience

The belief that there exists a central truth that can be secured from above yet that remains somehow liberal rather than authoritarian is a fatal mistake.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 31 Jan 2017

Turkey’s universities are being purged: we cannot afford to look the other way

We must keep in mind that as academics we are at our best, not when we agree to disagree, but exactly when we disagree to agree.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 23 Aug 2016

Don’t be fooled: Brexit or Bremain, both want us to fear Turkey

Ironically, Britain’s PM did not counter the slanderous comments made against Turks, but instead sought to demonstrate that he too would prevent them from entering the country.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 23 May 2016

Don’t be fooled: Brexit or Bremain, both want us to fear Turkey

Ironically, Britain’s PM did not counter the slanderous comments made against Turks, but instead sought to demonstrate that he too would prevent them from entering the country.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 23 May 2016

In the Erdogan vs. Böhmermann crisis, the real comedians are the politicians themselves

It is hard to shake the feeling that the real reason why the Böhmermann crisis has exceeded all rational proportions has more to do with German dissatisfaction with Merkel than with Erdogan.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 15 Apr 2016

In the Erdogan vs. Böhmermann crisis, the real comedians are the politicians themselves

It is hard to shake the feeling that the real reason why the Böhmermann crisis has exceeded all rational proportions has more to do with German dissatisfaction with Merkel than with Erdogan.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 15 Apr 2016

Turkish academics deserve solidarity: the fight for academic freedom is global

One can only conclude that the Turkish Government’s heavy-handed reaction to petitions supporting arrested academics is the continuation of a wider trend of restricting civil liberties and freedom of speech.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 18 Jan 2016

As Ankara death toll rises, anger mounts against Government for courting disaster

The Government’s immediate response was to enforce a media ban throughout Turkey, rather than attending to the needs of its beleaguered citizens.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 11 Oct 2015

Unleashing nationalist and militarist elements in Turkish society

Depending on who one believes the country is either on the brink of civil war, or instead heroically participating in the Global War on Terror.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 22 Sep 2015

Turkey’s bombing campaign against the Kurds will affect domestic parliamentary politics

Strikingly, during the hastily convened NATO meeting on Tuesday, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg refrained from directly mentioning Kurdish militant groups.

By Julian de Medeiros

/ 2 Aug 2015