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Much of the early optimism that has marked the early stages of the so-called “Arab Spring” waned as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) found itself embroiled in a spree of violence and destruction. This led several observers to talk about the end of the boundaries created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916; others, notably Yezid Sayigh, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, rejected this interpretation, arguing that framing the current crisis in terms of an overarching Sunni-Shia sectarian divide oversimplifies the social dynamics behing emerging political challenges and offers a poor guide to appropriate policy responses. The situation in the MENA region has become even more critical with the dramatic rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), or the Islamic State (IS) as it now calls itself, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, posing a serious threat to local populations and neighbouring states – not to mention the broader Western alliance.In this context, The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) has decided, thanks to a generous donation by a Swedish businessperson to offer a short-term research scholarship of SEK 100.000 to analyse the policy challenges Turkey, a country that has been widely regarded as an attractive “model” to the MENA region until relavitely recently, faces. More specifically, we are interested in proposals that will either:critically assess Turkey’s foreign policy choices in the wake of the “Arab Spring” orexplore the political economy of Turkey’s involvement in the region, with a view to identifying possible strategies for dealing with existing challenges.The successful candidate is expected to write one policy paper and one academic article (to be published in a peer-reviewed journal) on the proposed topic and participate actively in the activities organized during the length of stay at CMES.The deadline for applications is 30 November 2014.The results will be announced on 15 December 2014. The starting date of the position is 1 February 2015, for a period of 5 months.The application material should be submitted electronically to Christina Rothman and include: a letter of motivation, a research proposal (no longer than 5 pages), a detailed CV (with a list of publications), two selected publications (books or articles – PhD dissertation in the case of applicants who have recently obtained their degree) and the contact information of two referees.