Sibel Oktay Karagul

Sibel Oktay is Associate Professor, former Chair of the Political Science Department and former Director of the School of Politics and International Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She is a scholar of foreign policy analysis with regional interests in Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East. Her work investigates how domestic politics impact foreign policy, the effect of foreign policy on public opinion and voting behavior, and how leaders influence these relationships.

Dr. Oktay's research has been published in the Journal of European Public Policy, European Journal of Political Research, and European Security, among other outlets. She is the author Governing Abroad: Coalition Politics and Foreign Policy in Europe (University of Michigan Press, 2022). Her current projects focus on elite and mass attitudes toward alliances, foreign policy fiascos, and how leaders influence coalition decision-making processes. A frequent media contributor, Oktay's commentary and analysis have been featured in The New York Times, Vox, The Hill, War On The Rocks, and Responsible Statecraft as well as among other national and international outlets in the United States, Turkey, Lebanon, Canada, the Netherlands, and Brazil. She is past president and program chair of the Foreign Policy Analysis section of the International Studies Association and a current editorial board member of the journal International Studies Perspectives. Dr. Oktay is a recipient of the 2022-2023 Jefferson Science Fellowship of the U.S. Department of State.

At UIS, Dr. Oktay teaches courses on International Relations, Foreign Policy, European Politics, Middle Eastern Politics, and Research Methods.

For more information about Dr. Oktay, please visit her website at www.sibeloktay.net