{"id":2530,"date":"2026-09-30T10:16:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/?page_id=2530"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T07:35:31","slug":"previous-team-members","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/previous-team-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Previous Team Members"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-table border-none has-custom-css wp-custom-css-ddb86ca7\"><table class=\"table table-hover\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Raul Toomla<\/strong> is a Lecturer of International Relations at the University of Tartu. He defended his PhD thesis on <em>De Facto States in International System: Conditions for (In-)formal Engagement<\/em> (University of Tartu, 2014). His main research focus is on the engagement of de facto states. Using set-theoretical methods, he attempts to determine their position in the international system. His other interests include international political economies and system level approaches to international affairs.<\/td><td><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/toomla.png\" alt=\"Raul Toomla\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Butrint Berisha<\/strong> is a PhD researcher at the University of Tartu. He is primarily interested in de facto states foreign relations strategies. His thesis on <em>Exploring the Role of Civil Society Organisations in the Foreign Policy of De Facto States: An Analysis of Kosovo, Palestine and Taiwan Since 2010<\/em> investigates how different actors in de facto states, such as civil society organisations, attempt to become diplomatic agents by engaging in recognition efforts.<\/td><td><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/butrint_berisha.jpg\" alt=\"Butrint Berisha\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Izzet Yalin Y\u00fcksel<\/strong> is a PhD researcher at the University of Tartu. His research interests consist of de facto states, identity politics, patron-client relations, ontological security, security studies and conflict resolution. His thesis on <em>Hierarchy, Identity, and Patterns of Elite Navigation: Patron-Client Relations of Dependent Polities <\/em>explores how partially recognised de facto states and internationally recognised microstates develop relations with their patrons and strategically navigate under the conditions of ontological insecurity. <\/td><td><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/398\/izzet_yalin_youksel-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Izzet Yalin Youksel\"><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raul Toomla is a Lecturer of International Relations at the University of Tartu. He defended his PhD thesis on De Facto States in International System: Conditions for (In-)formal Engagement (University of Tartu, 2014). His main research focus is on the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2530","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2548,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2530\/revisions\/2548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/defactostates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}