PhD Candidate – Political Science laltinsoy@gradcenter.cuny.edu

Laura Altinsoy (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, specializing in International Relations with a minor in Political Theory. Her research focuses on international organizations, global political economy, U.S. hegemony, Third World contestation, and financialization. Her dissertation examines how U.S. hegemony was contested and reconstituted through international institutions and global finance from 1955 to 1986, with particular attention to the IMF, UNCTAD, G77, NAM, NIEO, and the role of financial networks.
She also teaches undergraduate political science courses at CUNY, including American Government, U.S. in an Age of Globalization and Modern Political Theory. She previously served as a Political Affairs Intern with the Peacebuilding Commission Support Branch of the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs at UN Headquarters in New York. Her academic background includes an MLitt in History from the University of Dundee, where she graduated with distinction and received the Charles McKean History Prize, and an MA Honours degree in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Edinburgh, where she graduated with First Class Honours and received prizes in Philosophy of Science and Logic. She has also lived, studied, and worked in several countries, including Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, and the United States, and has traveled extensively and participated in volunteer work in Central America, Africa, and Asia. She speaks German, English, French, and Spanish.