Rüçhan Kaya's Website

I am working as an assistant professor at Austin College Political Science Department and I received my Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

My research is broadly about regime studies and natural resources. In particular, my dissertation, entitled A New Type of Resource Curse? The Effect of Natural Resource Pipelines on Level of Democracy, Regime Stability, and Development, centers upon how resource production affects the processes of regime change, as well as economic and human development in natural resource transit countries. The second line of my research is on democratization by elections literature. Here, I focus on the role of elections’ qualities in furthering civil liberties.

Parts of my research have been funded by the Institute for Humane Studies, Erasmus+ Project, Fulbright Program, and UF Alumni Program.

At Austin College and Texas A&M University, I taught courses on political methodology, comparative politics, and international relations.

Areas of Interest/Research

Resource Politics, Democratization and Regime Transition, Political Economy, Post-Communist Politics, Development, Political Methodology, Energy Security