Evren Balta is a Professor of Political Science at Özyeğin University, Istanbul, Turkey. Her articles have been published in journals such as Party Politics, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Sociology, and in numerous edited books in Turkish, English, and French. 

She is the author and editor of several books. Her book, The American Passport in Turkey, received the American Sociological Association Global and Transnational Sociology Section’s “Best Book by an International Scholar Award.” 

Balta wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on internal conflict and institutional restructuring in Russia and Turkey. Her research continues to explore the intersection of comparative and international politics, with extensive work on internal conflicts in Russia and Turkey, Turkish foreign policy, and civil-military relations. She has examined the institutional trajectories and regimes of Turkey and Russia, conducting comparative analyses of democratic backsliding and populism in both countries. 

Additionally, she has participated in several research projects focusing on how transnational inequalities reshape citizenship regimes. 

Balta's scholarly endeavors have been supported by institutions such as the Fulbright Scholar Program and the Mellon Foundation. She served as a research fellow in the Institute for Human Sciences/Russia in Global Dialogue Program (Vienna, Austria, 2017) and as a Fulbright visiting associate professor at New York University’s Program in International Relations during the 2017-2018 academic year. Recognized for her outstanding achievements, Balta was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Political Science Program at CUNY-The Graduate Center. 

She is currently a visiting scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University for the 2024-2025 academic year.