Toni Alaranta
Senior Research Fellow- Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular its relations with the EU, the US and Russia
- Kurds in international relations
- Middle East in world politics
- Europe-Middle East relations
- The Cyprus question
- Strategic cultures
- Political Islam
Toni Alaranta is a Senior Research Fellow in the European Union research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Before joining FIIA in the spring of 2014, Alaranta conducted his post-doc studies at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, and at the Tallinn University in Estonia. His areas of expertise include Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular Turkey’s relations with the EU, the US and Russia, the Kurds in international relations, the Middle East in world politics, Europe-Middle East relations, the Cyprus question, strategic cultures, and political Islam.
Alaranta’s most recent peer-reviewed monograph is Turkey’s Foreign Policy Narratives: Implications of Global Power Shifts (Springer, 2022). Previous books include National and State Identity in Turkey: The Transformation of the Republic’s Status in the International System (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), and Contemporary Kemalism: From Universal Secular-humanism to Extreme Turkish Nationalism (Routledge, 2014).
He has also published the first Finnish-language book on the political history of Turkey, titled Turkin historia: Atatürkista Erdoğaniin (History of Turkey: from Atatürk to Erdoğan) (Gaudeamus 2019). Together with Wolfgang Mühlberger, Alaranta has co-edited a book on the use of political narratives in the contemporary Middle East, titled Political Narratives in the Middle East and North Africa: Perceptions of Instability and Conceptions of Order (Springer, 2020).
Alaranta defended his doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki in 2012 (The Enlightenment Idea of History as a Legitimation of Kemalism in Turkey), received his Lic. Phil. degree from the University of Turku in 2008, and his MA degree, also from the University of Turku, in 2005.
Degrees
Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, 17.1.2012
Major: Political History
Licentiate of Philosophy, University of Turku, 12.8.2008
Major: General History
Master of Arts, University of Turku, 09.6.2005
Major: General History
Language skills
Finnish, English, Turkish
Work experience
Senior Research Fellow, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, April 2014 –
Research Fellow (post-doc), Tallinn University, Estonia, August 2013 – March 2014.
Research Fellow (post-doc), Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, September 2012 – June 2013
Doctoral student, MEUDOS doctoral school, Network for European Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, September 2009 – December 2011
Academic Teaching
Lecture series “90 Years of the Republic of Turkey”, Tallinn University, Spring semester 2014.
Intensive course “The 90 Years of the Republic of Turkey,” co-organizer and lecturer, The Finnish Institute in the Middle East (FIME), Istanbul, 2.11.–10.11.2013
Master’s Degree Programme in European Studies (MES)/ European Studies workshop – essay workshop tutoring, University of Helsinki, autumn semester 2011
Master’s Degree Programme in European Studies (MES)/ European Studies workshop – essay workshop tutoring, University of Helsinki, autumn semester 2010
Lecture in series University of Helsinki Studies Europe: “The Europeanization of Turkey as a Political Project” (Together with Pia Alilonttinen), University of Helsinki, 21.10.2010
Lectures on the “Core Issues in the History of Modern Turkey”, University of Turku, autumn semester 2008
Education
Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2012 (Dissertation: The Enlightenment Idea of History as a Legitimation Tool of Kemalism in Turkey)
Licentiate of Philosophy, University of Turku, Finland, 2008
Master of Arts, University of Turku, Finland, 2005