Burak Giray

Burak Giray

Postdoctoral Researcher

Technical University of Munich

About me

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (German: Hochschule für Politik) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Before joining TUM, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Hertie School’s Centre for International Security and a visiting researcher at Uppsala University’s Department of Peace and Conflict Research. My postdoctoral project “Peacekeeping Dynamics and Local Support Mining and Analyzing Tweets from Conflict Countries” and my research stay in Sweden were funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the 2023/24 academic year.

I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Houston. My research focuses on various aspects of UN interventions in conflicts, including the supply-side dynamics, effectiveness, and legitimacy of UN peacekeeping operations, as well as the long-term sustainability of peace settlements.

My Ph.D. dissertation titled “UN Peacekeeping Operations: Conflicting Interests and Effectiveness” examines the supply-side dynamics of peacekeeping and its impact on the overall effectiveness of UN missions, in which I argued that the motivations of countries deploying peacekeepers significantly influence the fulfillment of mission mandates. When troop-contributing countries prioritize their private interests over the principles of UN peacekeeping, the impartiality and neutrality of the UN are compromised. This undermines its ability to address the credible commitment problem among combatants and fulfill core mandates such as civilian protection.

Download my resumé.

Interests

  • International Organizations
  • Civil War Dynamics
  • UN Peacekeeping

Education

  • PhD in Political Science and Government, 2022

    University of Houston, Texas, USA

  • MA in International Relations, 2016

    Social Sciences University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

  • BA in Translation Studies & Double Major in Political Science, 2014

    Cankaya University, Ankara, Turkey