Filiz Kahraman

Biography

Filiz Kahraman’s research investigates law and politics from international and comparative perspectives. She is currently working on a book manuscript examining why labor activists in Europe pursue human rights law as a new mobilization strategy and how international law has affected the lives of workers on the ground.

Before joining the department, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University. She received her PhD in political science from the University of Washington.

Her research has been funded by multiple organizations, including the National Science Foundation and her dissertation has been awarded the Lynne Rienner Publishers Award for Best Dissertation by the International Studies Association’s Human Rights Section. Her commentary on current human rights issues and the political crisis in Europe and Turkey has appeared in The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, openDemocracy, and Bianet (in Turkish).

Research Interests

• Comparative politics
• International law and courts
• European politics
• Sociolegal studies
• Human Rights
• Social movements
• Labor politics

Education

• B.A. Bogazici University, Turkey
• M.A. University of Washington
• Ph.D. University of Washington

Publications

• [Forthcoming]. What Makes an International Institution Work for Labor Activists? Shaping International Law Through Strategic Litigation. Law & Society Review.
• [Forthcoming]. “Activists as Allies of International Courts: Assessing the Impact of Legal Mobilization at International Courts.” In Research Handbook on Law, Movements, and Social Change. Eds. Steve Boutcher, Corey Shdaimah, and Michael Yarbrough. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• 2021. “On the Interdependence of Liberal and Illiberal/Authoritarian Legal Forms in Racial Capitalist Regimes...The Case of the United States.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 17. Pp. 483-503. Co-authored with Michael McCann.
• 2020. “Domestic Courts, Transnational Law, and International Order” European Journal of International Relations. 26(1_suppl), pp. 184–208. Co-authored with Nik Kalyanpur and Abe Newman.
• 2019. “The European Court of Human Rights: Towards a Holistic Approach to Human Rights” in The Institutions of Human Rights: Developments and Practices. Eds. Susan Kang and Gord DiGiacomo. University of Toronto Press.
• 2018. “A New Era for Labor Activism? Strategic Mobilization of Human Rights against Blacklisting.” Law & Social Inquiry. 43(4), pp.1279-1307

Teaching Interests

• POLD44H3 - Comparative Law and Social Change
• POLC38H3 - International Law
• POLC39H3 - Comparative Legal Systems
• POLC33H3 - Politics of International Human Rights