Omer Gokcekus, Ph.D.

Professor of International Economics and Development
School of Diplomacy and International Relations

Omer Gokcekus is a Professor of international economics and development. His research interests include the relationship between interest groups and trade policies, organizational architecture and performance in public sector organizations, the dynamics and effects of corruption, economic development, foreign aid, and wine economics. Prior to joining the School in 2003, Dr. Gokcekus taught at Duke University and North Carolina Central University. He has also taught at Munster University (Germany) as a DAAD recipient and at University of Cyprus, University of Economics in Bratislava, and Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) as a visiting professor.

Since 1999, he has worked as a consultant for the World Bank. While with the World Bank, Dr. Gokcekus participated in public sector reform projects in sixteen countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Indonesia, and six East Caribbean countries.

Dr. Gokcekus has served as the special economic advisor for the Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci between 2015 and 2020.

In addition to publishing articles in academic journals such as Journal of Peace Research, Economics and Politics, Economics Letters, Public Choice, and Journal of Wine Economics, Dr. Gokcekus has authored books on dynamics of corruption and on the economics of isolations, co-authored books on public sector governance and performance in Guyana and Bangladesh, and contributed to Transparency International’s Annual Corruption Report on political patronage, gender, declaration of asset laws and regulations and corruption in public organizations.