N. Uras Demir
PhD Candidate,
Department of Political Science
University of California, Irvine
About me
I am a PhD candidate at the University of California Irvine's Department of Political Science, a Smith Richardson Foundation World Politics and Statecraft Fellow, a UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Dissertation Fellow, and a Pedagogical Fellow of UCI's Division of Teaching Innovation and Excellence.
I specialize in international relations and research methods. My dissertation research explores the relationship between global supply chains, conflict, and cooperation. I also conduct pedagogical research on political science education. I have teaching experience in international relations and research methods. I taught Political Analysis at UC Irvine and worked as a teaching assistant for ten courses at the School of Social Sciences, among which I assisted instruction in Statistics and Probability six times. Beyond my academic responsibilities, I am interested in data science and data visualization. I have six years of experience working with R and three years with SQL and Tableau.
Before joining my PhD program at the University of California Irvine, I received my MSc from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commericales du Nord (EDHEC) in Lille, France, in Global Business with an academic concentration on International Finance, and my joint BSc from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in International Relations. My native language is Turkish, I am conversational in French, and I have limited fluency in Japanese.
Research
National Power and the Structure of Global Supply Chain Trade
In my dissertation research, I explore why asymmetrical interdependence in some supply chains incentivizes cooperation among states while in others exacerbates conflict. I argue that, where asymmetrical interdependence exists, substitutability and sophistication of intermediate good flows shape the outcomes. I demonstrate the causal mechanism using a mixed methods research design. In my case studies, I focus on the chains that produce integrated circuits (HS8542), semiconductor devices (HS8541), and electric batteries (HS8507).
Are Global Supply Chains Vital for China’s Leaders?
In this co-authored chapter, we begin by exploring China's outward looking political economy model and the role global supply chains play in it. We then identify mounting challenges to China's supply chain activities and identify three ideal-typical views within China's leadership towards the GSCs. We argue that the balance between these views will have significant consequences for the future of global interdependence. In Etel Solingen (Ed.) 2021. Geopolitics, Supply Chains, and International Relations of East Asia. Cambridge University Press.
The Trade War and Third-Party Adjustment: An Interrupted Time Series Approach
In this co-authored project, we explore the influence of the US-China trade war on both countries' trade with third parties using interrupted time series models. We argue that military alliances and polity similarities have played a significant role in reshaping third party trade strategies following the initiation of the trade conflict.
Diversity in Political Science Pedagogical Research: A Bayesian Estimation of Citation Identity
In this co-authored piece, we focus on the evolution of inclusivity in political science pedagogical research using an original dataset on journal publications between 2005 and 2020. We carry out an analysis of citation identity through Bayesian estimation using the WRU package (Imai and Khanna, 2016).
Teaching
Political Analysis
How do political scientists carry out research? This R-integrated course aims to introduce students to the fundamentals of computational political science. The course covers the basics of research design, data gathering, the use of R for data wrangling, visualization, and analysis, and the application of basic quantitative methods to answer research questions. While this course is primarily designed for political science majors, the practical and transferable research skills taught in this course will be applicable across all social science majors (and beyond the campus).
Introduction to International Relations
What are the causes of change in the international system? This course explores how states and nonstate actors interact with each other. It examines the key theories, concepts, and debates in the field and discusses contemporary global issues such as trade, technology, human rights, and climate change. It also explores how globalization shapes the behavior of states and other actors. This course provides a foundation for students to pursue their studies in international relations.
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