Seden Akcinaroglu
Biographic Data
| ID | 1493904 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Seden Akcinaroglu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Seden |
| FAMILY NAME | Akcinaroglu |
| SIGNATURE | AKCINAROGLU S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Binghamton University |
| ORCID | 0009-0004-3062-2385 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 204 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The role of exposure to violence in citizens’ relative trust in media types for conflict-related information and news
Media serve as vital sources of information for conflict contexts, where civilians often confront violence threatening their safety, emotional well-being and survival. Our research explores the impact of exposure to conflict-related violence on people’s trust in different media types regarding conflict-related information and news (CRIN). We particularly investigate the factors influencing citizens’ relative trust in media within conflict setting…
Ripe moments for terror attacks: Opportunity benefits–reputation tradeoff
While considerable research exists on the underlying causes of terrorism, the timing of terrorist attacks remains poorly understood. This study argues that terrorist groups strategically exploit transient periods of crisis to strike when their targets are most vulnerable. During moments of crisis, state resources are redirected toward immediate challenges, diminishing the likelihood of prompt retaliation. However, terrorist groups weigh both oppo…
Unique offerings: Ideological competition and rebel governance
This study examines the factors influencing non-state armed actors’ (NSAAs) ability and willingness to implement rebel governance, with a focus on the group's ideological distinction from adversaries and the government. We argue that a unique ideology acts as an effective branding tool, enhancing governance success as constituents recognize and align with it. This ideology allows NSAAs to offer a distinct social contract to their followers with m…
Exploring the Impact of Cryptocurrency on Terrorism
The nexus between economic motivations and terrorist activities has been extensively theorized, but existing explanations often overlook the contemporary shifts in terrorist financing ushered in by technological advancements. The advent of cryptocurrencies, with their hallmarks of anonymity, decentralization, liquidity, usability, and profitability, has bestowed upon terrorist groups new avenues for raising funds while remaining largely clandesti…
External Interventions: Bluffing and Adaptive Learning in Civil Wars
Rebel Rivalry and the Strategic Nature of Rebel Group Ideology and Demands
How does the presence of multiple combatants affect rebel groups’ ideological and demand positioning? Although violent forms of inter-group conflict have been widely studied in the civil war literature, rebel groups’ strategic use of ideology and demands has received scarce scholarly attention. We argue that the pressure of competition forces rebel groups to differentiate themselves ideologically and demand-wise from their rivals to maximize thei…
Battle for Allegiance: Governments, Terrorist Groups, and Constituencies in Conflict
Domestic terrorist groups, like all violent nonstate actors, compete with governments for their monopoly on violence and their legitimacy in representing the citizenry. Battle for Allegiance shows violence is neither the only nor the most effective way in which nonstate actors and governments work to achieve their goals. As much as nonviolent strategies are a rarely considered piece of the puzzle, the role of the audience is another crucial piece…
Wars of Others’: National Cleavages and Attitudes towards External Conflicts
Why do individuals sympathize with others’ wars, an antecedent of the decision to become a foreign fighter? By collecting original public opinion data from Lebanon, in 2015, and Turkey in 2017, about the actors of conflict in Syria, we test the argument that an ethno-religious cleavage at home shapes the proclivity of individuals to support others’ wars. Individuals may perceive a war abroad as endangering political and social balance of power at…
Private military & security companies, conflict complexity, and peace duration: An Empirical Analysis
PMSC training has the potential to improve state capacity, reduce the combatants’ opportunity and willingness to fight, and prolong the duration of peace. However, the benefit of PMSC training-related intervention over other types of PMSC interventions depends on the level of conflict complexity. Analysis of novel data on PMSC interventions and peace episodes following major/minor civil wars (1990–2008) shows that in cases when PMSCs intervene, t…
Web of Links: Rival Connections and Strategic Accommodation in Response to Threats
We examine what leads states to accommodate enduring, international rivals in response to immediate threats. Drawing from network theory, we hypothesize that the direct and indirect ties the threatened state’s rivals form with each other and with other states in the global system play a critical role in shaping crisis. A threatened state should be more likely to accommodate rivals with economic connections to other actors. These connections gener…
To instill fear or love: Terrorist groups and the strategy of building reputation
Why does one terrorist group employ actions that win the hearts and minds of its constituency while another resorts to tactics that alienate their support? The paper investigates terrorist groups’ strategy of building reputation in their constituency/in-group population and non-constituency/out-group population. Studying all domestic terrorist groups between 1980 and 2011 with original data, we find that ethnic/religious groups and those with ter…
Reputation of Terror Groups Dataset: Measuring popularity of terror groups
Violence against civilians is not the only tool among the arsenal of terrorists; it is only one of many. Up until now, there did not exist any quantitative data on the different strategies adopted by terror groups that measured the group's popularity or its public support. The Reputation of Terror Groups dataset (RTG) addresses this void. To understand which terror groups build different types of reputation, to analyze the consequences of reputat…
New Appointments
An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button
The Effects of Rivalry on Rivalry: Accommodation and the Management of Threats
The paper investigates how states manage multiple rivalries when faced with immediate threats. We argue that accommodation of one rival allows states to shift resources from the management of another rival to deal with the costs of immediate threats. By examining enduring rivalries from 1966 to 1999, we show that states' reliance on accommodation in response to threats varies depending on the number of severe threats and the relative capabilities…
Private Military Companies, Opportunities, and Termination of Civil Wars in Africa
The article analyzes the impact of private military companies (PMCs) on the duration of civil wars in Africa from 1990 to 2008. We develop an “opportunity structure” theory to argue that while PMCs are profit-oriented entities, the prevalent opportunities in conflicts will determine how they behave in war zones. Empirical findings for civil wars with at least 1,000 battle deaths show that as level of competition among government-hired PMCs increa…
Rebel Interdependencies and Civil War Outcomes
The article investigates how rebel interdependencies shape civil war outcomes. The author argues that alliances between rebel groups will have serious repercussions on the management of conflict. By examining civil war outcomes between 1946 and 2008, the author shows that the presence of multiple groups, alliances among rebels, the cumulative capabilities of one’s allies as well as the credibility and the durability of alliances shape war outcome…
Avalanches and Olive Branches: A Multimethod Analysis of Disasters and Peacemaking in Interstate Rivalries
Multimethod analysis of earthquakes’ effects in two enduring rivalries demonstrates that natural disaster can promote rapprochement, political steps toward warmer relations that make it difficult for interstate rivalry to continue. Public expression of compassion and support for rapprochement create audience costs for leaders who otherwise would maintain hostile policies toward the rival state. However, routine violence, including communal violen…
Expectations, Rivalries, and Civil War Duration
What role have states involved in a rivalry with another state played in shaping the dynamics of their rival's civil wars? How can the existence of an interstate rival affect rebel calculations whether to continue fighting or stop the violence and negotiate? And to what extent does rival intervention differ in its impact on civil war duration from interventions by other actors? This paper argues that the existence of an interstate rival can prolo…
Rebel Interdependencies and Civil War Outcomes
The article investigates how rebel interdependencies shape civil war outcomes. The author argues that alliances between rebel groups will have serious repercussions on the management of conflict. By examining civil war outcomes between 1946 and 2008, the author shows that the presence of multiple groups, alliances among rebels, the cumulative capabilities of one’s allies as well as the credibility and the durability of alliances shape war outcome…
Private Military Companies, Opportunities, and Termination of Civil Wars in Africa
The article analyzes the impact of private military companies (PMCs) on the duration of civil wars in Africa from 1990 to 2008. We develop an “opportunity structure” theory to argue that while PMCs are profit-oriented entities, the prevalent opportunities in conflicts will determine how they behave in war zones. Empirical findings for civil wars with at least 1,000 battle deaths show that as level of competition among government-hired PMCs increa…
Expectations, Rivalries, and Civil War Duration
What role have states involved in a rivalry with another state played in shaping the dynamics of their rival's civil wars? How can the existence of an interstate rival affect rebel calculations whether to continue fighting or stop the violence and negotiate? And to what extent does rival intervention differ in its impact on civil war duration from interventions by other actors? This paper argues that the existence of an interstate rival can prolo…
Rebel Rivalry and the Strategic Nature of Rebel Group Ideology and Demands
How does the presence of multiple combatants affect rebel groups’ ideological and demand positioning? Although violent forms of inter-group conflict have been widely studied in the civil war literature, rebel groups’ strategic use of ideology and demands has received scarce scholarly attention. We argue that the pressure of competition forces rebel groups to differentiate themselves ideologically and demand-wise from their rivals to maximize thei…
Avalanches and Olive Branches: A Multimethod Analysis of Disasters and Peacemaking in Interstate Rivalries
Multimethod analysis of earthquakes’ effects in two enduring rivalries demonstrates that natural disaster can promote rapprochement, political steps toward warmer relations that make it difficult for interstate rivalry to continue. Public expression of compassion and support for rapprochement create audience costs for leaders who otherwise would maintain hostile policies toward the rival state. However, routine violence, including communal violen…
To instill fear or love: Terrorist groups and the strategy of building reputation
Why does one terrorist group employ actions that win the hearts and minds of its constituency while another resorts to tactics that alienate their support? The paper investigates terrorist groups’ strategy of building reputation in their constituency/in-group population and non-constituency/out-group population. Studying all domestic terrorist groups between 1980 and 2011 with original data, we find that ethnic/religious groups and those with ter…
The Effects of Rivalry on Rivalry: Accommodation and the Management of Threats
The paper investigates how states manage multiple rivalries when faced with immediate threats. We argue that accommodation of one rival allows states to shift resources from the management of another rival to deal with the costs of immediate threats. By examining enduring rivalries from 1966 to 1999, we show that states' reliance on accommodation in response to threats varies depending on the number of severe threats and the relative capabilities…
Reputation of Terror Groups Dataset: Measuring popularity of terror groups
Violence against civilians is not the only tool among the arsenal of terrorists; it is only one of many. Up until now, there did not exist any quantitative data on the different strategies adopted by terror groups that measured the group's popularity or its public support. The Reputation of Terror Groups dataset (RTG) addresses this void. To understand which terror groups build different types of reputation, to analyze the consequences of reputat…
Wars of Others’: National Cleavages and Attitudes towards External Conflicts
Why do individuals sympathize with others’ wars, an antecedent of the decision to become a foreign fighter? By collecting original public opinion data from Lebanon, in 2015, and Turkey in 2017, about the actors of conflict in Syria, we test the argument that an ethno-religious cleavage at home shapes the proclivity of individuals to support others’ wars. Individuals may perceive a war abroad as endangering political and social balance of power at…
Private military & security companies, conflict complexity, and peace duration: An Empirical Analysis
PMSC training has the potential to improve state capacity, reduce the combatants’ opportunity and willingness to fight, and prolong the duration of peace. However, the benefit of PMSC training-related intervention over other types of PMSC interventions depends on the level of conflict complexity. Analysis of novel data on PMSC interventions and peace episodes following major/minor civil wars (1990–2008) shows that in cases when PMSCs intervene, t…
Web of Links: Rival Connections and Strategic Accommodation in Response to Threats
We examine what leads states to accommodate enduring, international rivals in response to immediate threats. Drawing from network theory, we hypothesize that the direct and indirect ties the threatened state’s rivals form with each other and with other states in the global system play a critical role in shaping crisis. A threatened state should be more likely to accommodate rivals with economic connections to other actors. These connections gener…
Expectations, Rivalries, and Civil War Duration
What role have states involved in a rivalry with another state played in shaping the dynamics of their rival's civil wars? How can the existence of an interstate rival affect rebel calculations whether to continue fighting or stop the violence and negotiate? And to what extent does rival intervention differ in its impact on civil war duration from interventions by other actors? This paper argues that the existence of an interstate rival can prolo…
Avalanches and Olive Branches: A Multimethod Analysis of Disasters and Peacemaking in Interstate Rivalries
Multimethod analysis of earthquakes’ effects in two enduring rivalries demonstrates that natural disaster can promote rapprochement, political steps toward warmer relations that make it difficult for interstate rivalry to continue. Public expression of compassion and support for rapprochement create audience costs for leaders who otherwise would maintain hostile policies toward the rival state. However, routine violence, including communal violen…
Rebel Interdependencies and Civil War Outcomes
The article investigates how rebel interdependencies shape civil war outcomes. The author argues that alliances between rebel groups will have serious repercussions on the management of conflict. By examining civil war outcomes between 1946 and 2008, the author shows that the presence of multiple groups, alliances among rebels, the cumulative capabilities of one’s allies as well as the credibility and the durability of alliances shape war outcome…
The Effects of Rivalry on Rivalry: Accommodation and the Management of Threats
The paper investigates how states manage multiple rivalries when faced with immediate threats. We argue that accommodation of one rival allows states to shift resources from the management of another rival to deal with the costs of immediate threats. By examining enduring rivalries from 1966 to 1999, we show that states' reliance on accommodation in response to threats varies depending on the number of severe threats and the relative capabilities…
Private Military Companies, Opportunities, and Termination of Civil Wars in Africa
The article analyzes the impact of private military companies (PMCs) on the duration of civil wars in Africa from 1990 to 2008. We develop an “opportunity structure” theory to argue that while PMCs are profit-oriented entities, the prevalent opportunities in conflicts will determine how they behave in war zones. Empirical findings for civil wars with at least 1,000 battle deaths show that as level of competition among government-hired PMCs increa…
New Appointments
An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button
To instill fear or love: Terrorist groups and the strategy of building reputation
Why does one terrorist group employ actions that win the hearts and minds of its constituency while another resorts to tactics that alienate their support? The paper investigates terrorist groups’ strategy of building reputation in their constituency/in-group population and non-constituency/out-group population. Studying all domestic terrorist groups between 1980 and 2011 with original data, we find that ethnic/religious groups and those with ter…
Reputation of Terror Groups Dataset: Measuring popularity of terror groups
Violence against civilians is not the only tool among the arsenal of terrorists; it is only one of many. Up until now, there did not exist any quantitative data on the different strategies adopted by terror groups that measured the group's popularity or its public support. The Reputation of Terror Groups dataset (RTG) addresses this void. To understand which terror groups build different types of reputation, to analyze the consequences of reputat…
Web of Links: Rival Connections and Strategic Accommodation in Response to Threats
We examine what leads states to accommodate enduring, international rivals in response to immediate threats. Drawing from network theory, we hypothesize that the direct and indirect ties the threatened state’s rivals form with each other and with other states in the global system play a critical role in shaping crisis. A threatened state should be more likely to accommodate rivals with economic connections to other actors. These connections gener…
Battle for Allegiance: Governments, Terrorist Groups, and Constituencies in Conflict
Domestic terrorist groups, like all violent nonstate actors, compete with governments for their monopoly on violence and their legitimacy in representing the citizenry. Battle for Allegiance shows violence is neither the only nor the most effective way in which nonstate actors and governments work to achieve their goals. As much as nonviolent strategies are a rarely considered piece of the puzzle, the role of the audience is another crucial piece…
Wars of Others’: National Cleavages and Attitudes towards External Conflicts
Why do individuals sympathize with others’ wars, an antecedent of the decision to become a foreign fighter? By collecting original public opinion data from Lebanon, in 2015, and Turkey in 2017, about the actors of conflict in Syria, we test the argument that an ethno-religious cleavage at home shapes the proclivity of individuals to support others’ wars. Individuals may perceive a war abroad as endangering political and social balance of power at…
Private military & security companies, conflict complexity, and peace duration: An Empirical Analysis
PMSC training has the potential to improve state capacity, reduce the combatants’ opportunity and willingness to fight, and prolong the duration of peace. However, the benefit of PMSC training-related intervention over other types of PMSC interventions depends on the level of conflict complexity. Analysis of novel data on PMSC interventions and peace episodes following major/minor civil wars (1990–2008) shows that in cases when PMSCs intervene, t…
Rebel Rivalry and the Strategic Nature of Rebel Group Ideology and Demands
How does the presence of multiple combatants affect rebel groups’ ideological and demand positioning? Although violent forms of inter-group conflict have been widely studied in the civil war literature, rebel groups’ strategic use of ideology and demands has received scarce scholarly attention. We argue that the pressure of competition forces rebel groups to differentiate themselves ideologically and demand-wise from their rivals to maximize thei…
External Interventions: Bluffing and Adaptive Learning in Civil Wars
The role of exposure to violence in citizens’ relative trust in media types for conflict-related information and news
Media serve as vital sources of information for conflict contexts, where civilians often confront violence threatening their safety, emotional well-being and survival. Our research explores the impact of exposure to conflict-related violence on people’s trust in different media types regarding conflict-related information and news (CRIN). We particularly investigate the factors influencing citizens’ relative trust in media within conflict setting…
Ripe moments for terror attacks: Opportunity benefits–reputation tradeoff
While considerable research exists on the underlying causes of terrorism, the timing of terrorist attacks remains poorly understood. This study argues that terrorist groups strategically exploit transient periods of crisis to strike when their targets are most vulnerable. During moments of crisis, state resources are redirected toward immediate challenges, diminishing the likelihood of prompt retaliation. However, terrorist groups weigh both oppo…
Unique offerings: Ideological competition and rebel governance
This study examines the factors influencing non-state armed actors’ (NSAAs) ability and willingness to implement rebel governance, with a focus on the group's ideological distinction from adversaries and the government. We argue that a unique ideology acts as an effective branding tool, enhancing governance success as constituents recognize and align with it. This ideology allows NSAAs to offer a distinct social contract to their followers with m…
Exploring the Impact of Cryptocurrency on Terrorism
The nexus between economic motivations and terrorist activities has been extensively theorized, but existing explanations often overlook the contemporary shifts in terrorist financing ushered in by technological advancements. The advent of cryptocurrencies, with their hallmarks of anonymity, decentralization, liquidity, usability, and profitability, has bestowed upon terrorist groups new avenues for raising funds while remaining largely clandesti…
Political science (17 works) · Law (14 works) · Political economy (14 works) · Economics (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (11 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (9 works) · Business (7 works) · Sociology (7 works)