Perisa Davutoglu

Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh and an Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellow for the 2024–2025 academic year. I specialize in international relations and political methodology, focusing on political violence, civil wars, forced displacement, and refugee policies. My work has been published in the Review of International Organizations and International Interactions.

My dissertation investigates how host states, particularly in the Global South, navigate the challenges of refugee governance. In the first part of my research, I examine public support for inclusive refugee policies. While existing studies often focus on high-income countries or attitudes toward refugee arrivals, I examine how citizens perceive specific refugee policies —such as granting the right to work and freedom of movement—, emphasizing the balance between moral considerations and practical concerns in shaping support for these measures. In the second part of my dissertation, I shift focus from inclusive refugee policies to exclusionary and restrictive measures, with a particular emphasis on forced repatriation. This practice, often employed by host states to address domestic political pressures, is prohibited under international law but remains prevalent. I develop a new measure to identify cases of forced repatriation, addressing critical data gaps and enabling systematic analysis of the political, economic, and social factors driving these policies.

I address these questions using a mix of cross-national statistical analysis, survey experiments, and elite interviews. While my research has global implications, I am especially interested in the Middle East and North Africa.