Selen Ayirtman Ercan
		Phd Student Political Science Program Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) College of Arts and Social Sciences H.C. Coombs Building (#9) Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 E: Selen.ayirtman@anu.edu.au P: +61 2 6125 0781

Profile

Selen has a B.A. degree in Political Science from the Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and a M.A. degree in Political Science (major), Sociology and German Literature (minors) from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). Currently she is pursuing her PhD in the Political Science Program of the Australian National University. During her studies, she has been involved in several research projects exploring various aspects of democratic theory and practice. Her PhD thesis, under the supervision of Prof. John Dryzek, is about the merits and limits of deliberative democracy in the face of cultural diversity. It seeks to define ways in which accommodation of cultural diversity and resolution of cultural conflicts can be further democratized through deliberation.

Education

• PhD in progress, Political Science Program, Australian National University, Canberra.
• PhD Thesis in progress: 'Beyond multiculturalism: The deliberative politics of cultural diversity'
• Supervisory panel: Prof John Dryzek (chair), Prof Bob Goodin and Prof Claus Offe
• M.A. in Political Science (major), Sociology and German Literature (minors), University of Heidelberg, Germany (2003)
• Master Thesis in Political Science: The Relationship between Constitutional State and Democracy in Carl Schmitt and Jürgen Habermas (in German) - under the supervision of Prof Wolfgang Merkel
• B.A. in Political Science, Middle East Technical University, Turkey (1998)

Academic Employment

• 08/2008- 03/2009: Research Associate for the project Citizens’ Parliament, Political Science Program, Australian National University
• 05/2006- 05/2008: Research Associate for the project Micropolitics of Deliberation, Political Science Program, Australian National University
• 2003- 2005: Research Associate for the project Parties and Democracy in the European Union: Euro-parties as New Democratic Intermediaries? Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim (under the supervision of Prof Jan van Deth)
• 2001-2003: Research Assistant for the project Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim (under the supervision of Prof Jan van Deth)
• 1997: Internship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ankara, Turkey (3 months).

Publications

Publications & Refereed Papers

• Ayirtman, S. (2009) 'Beyond Multiculturalism: A Deliberative Approach' in Contested Recognition: Cultural Claims and Problems of Belonging, Cervantes-Carson, A. and Maria Lazaroms, I.J. (eds) Oxford: Interdisciplinary Press (forthcoming).
• Ayirtman, S. (2007) 'Recognition through Deliberation. Towards Deliberative Accommodation of Cultural Diversity', Refereed Conference Proceeding, 55th Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Annual Conference, Political and Social Theory Stream http://arts.monash.edu.au/psi/news-and-events/apsa/refereed-papers/political-theory/sayirtman.pdf
• Ayirtman, S. (2006) 'In Search of Australian Values', Radikal2, 02/04/2006 (in Turkish) http://www.radikal.com.tr/ek_haber.php?ek=r2&haberno=5705
• Ayirtman, S. and C. Pütz (2006) 'Backstage Actors of the European Union? Understanding the Role of the Euro-parties in the Emergence of a European Public Sphere' in: CESAA Review, Nr 34, pp.42-58 http://www.cesaa.org.au/forms/CESAA%20Review%20%2034%20CS%20August%202006.pdf
• Ayirtman, S. and C. Pütz (2005) 'Euro-parties as Transnational Networks: Contribution of the Euro-parties in the Emergence of a European Public Sphere' (with C. Pütz), in European Civil Society: Concepts, Actors, Strategies, Finke, B. and Knodt, M. (eds), Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp.389-408 (in German). 
• Ayirtman, S. (2003) The relationship between rule of law and democracy in the theories of Carl Schmitt and Jürgen Habermas, Master thesis (in German) written under the supervision of Prof Wolfgang Merkel, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Reports

• Niemeyer, S., S. Ayirtman and J. Hartz Karp (2008) Achieving Success in Large Scale Deliberation: Analysis of the Fremantle Bridge Community Engagement Process, Micropolitics in Deliberation Reports, Deliberative Democracy Research Group, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.

Editorial Roles

• 2002-2003: Member of the editorial team for Diskus, monthly academic journal of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany
• Ayirtman, S. (ed.) (1998) 'The State of World Refugees 1997-98: A Humanitarian Agenda', Ankara: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (in Turkish).

Encyclopedia Entries

• Ayirtman, S, J. Dryzek, B. Kanra, M. Lovell, P. Marshall  and R. Mendonca (forthcoming) 'Deliberative Democracy' in Encyclopedia of Political Theory, Sage Publications.

Conference Papers

• Ayirtman Ercan, S. (forthcoming) 'Dialogue in difficult times: When one’s cultural practice is another’s crime' to be presented at the annual conference of the Australian Sociological Association, The Future of Sociology, Australian National University, Canberra, 1-4 December 2009 http://www.tasa.org.au/tasa-conferences
• Ayirtman Ercan, S. (forthcoming) 'The deliberative politics of cultural diversity: Beyond interest and identity politics?' to be presented at the International Conference on Migration, Citizenship and Intercultural Relations, Deakin University, Melbourne, 19-20 November 2009. http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/icg/events/conf-2009.php
• Mendonca, R. and S. Ayirtman (2007) 'Discourses of Recognition in Contemporary Politics' presented at the Postgraduate Conference 'New Horizons in Political Philosophy', Australian National University, Canberra, 6-7 December 2007.
• Ayirtman, S. (2007) 'Recognition through Deliberation' presented at the Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Monash University, Melbourne, 24-26 September 2007. http://arts.monash.edu.au/psi/news-and-events/apsa/refereed-papers/political-theory/sayirtman.pdf
• Ayirtman, S. (2007) 'Beyond Multiculturalism: Conditions for deliberative accommodation of cultural diversity' presented at the 1st Global Conference "Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging", Oxford University, 3-6 September 2007. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/diversity-recognition/multiculturalism-conflict-and-belonging/project-archives/1st/
• Ayirtman, S. (2006) 'More than Tolerance, Less than Trust. Deliberative conditions of cross-cultural engagement' presented at the international conference 'Dialogue across Difference: Governance in a Multicultural Era', Australian National University, Canberra, 4-5 December 2006.
• Kesim, K. and S. Ayirtman (2006) 'Can Deliberative Public Participation Cure the Democratic Deficit of the EU?' presented to the ECPR Third Pan-European Conference on EU Politics, Istanbul, Turkey, 21-23 September 2006.
• Kesim, K. and S. Ayirtman (2006) 'Merits and Limits of Deliberative Public Participation in Multi-level Governance. The Case of GM Foods Regulation in the European Union' presented at the 2006 IPSA World Congress of Political Science 'Is Democracy Working?' Fukuoko, Japan, 9-14 July 2006.
• Ayirtman, S. (2005) 'Re-conceptualizing Public Sphere in Culturally Diverse Societies' presented at the CERC Interdisciplinary Conference 'Politics of Belonging: Citizenship, Migration and Ethnic Conflict in Europe' 30 November 2005, Contemporary Europe Research Centre, University of Melbourne.
• Ayirtman, S. (2005) 'Euro-parties: Networks of the Deliberative Democracy in the European Union?' presented at the European Studies Postgraduate Conference, 17 June 2005, European Studies Centre, The University of Sydney.

Academic Awards

• 05/2009- current: Stipend of the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
• 2001-2003: Stipend of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

Professional activities and services

• Referee for the Australian Political Science Association (APSA) conference proceedings, the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference proceedings and for Citizenship Studies.
• Discussant at the conference, Analyzing Collaborative and Deliberative Forms of Governance, Australian National University, 14 November 2008.
• Member of the organizing committee for Theory and Practice of Deliberative Democracy Workshop, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, 7-8 February 2008.
• Member of Conference organizing committee for the international conference, Dialogue across Difference: Governance in a Multicultural Era, Australian National University, Canberra, 4-5 December 2006.
• Member of the editorial board and referee for Diskus, monthly academic journal of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany, 2002-2003.
• Head of the Political Science Club, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 1996-1997

Research Interests

• political theory, deliberative democracy, identity politics, multiculturalism, European Union (legitimation and integration) and comparative literature studies

Languages

• English (fluent), German (fluent), Turkish (native)

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