Following an Editorial Note that summarizes an IAPSS Politikon webinar on 'Research and Education in Times of Pandemic', this issue contains three original articles and a book review. The first half of the issue consists of two articles employing interpretive methods (Ceren Çetinkaya) and critical theory (Ander Arredondo Chopitea). Çetinkaya studies one domain of the Turkish government’s efforts to reconstruct ‘a neo-Ottoman identity’, that of Ottoman-themed soap operas, juxtaposing this reconstruction to Turkey’s European identity that seeks affinity between Turkey and the European Union. Arredondo Chopitea contributes with an article asking whether development policies, in fact, can meet their intended aims to contribute to equality and global justice. 

Subsequently, Hakan Sönmez analyses how various democracy indice capture democratic backsliding. He argues for approaching democracy indices with caution since they are based on complex measurements entailing a range of conceptual and methodological choices. The issue closes with Chetan Rana’s book review of an edited volume analysing the status quo and prospects for the ‘Indo-Pacific axis’.