Rate My Professor Ayse Kaya

Ayse Kaya is Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College, where she currently serves as Department Chair of Political Science and Program Coordinator for the Global Studies program, which she co-founded. She earned her B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College, an M.Sc. in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in Government from the London School of Economics. Kaya's research specializes in international political economy, with a focus on multilateral economic institutions including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; the influence of emerging economies such as the BRICS countries; global inequality and poverty; the international ramifications of the 2008 global financial crisis; and global environmental governance, particularly climate finance.

In addition to her role at Swarthmore, Kaya holds appointments as Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of State (2023-2025), Adjunct Professor in the Business Economics and Public Policy Department at the Wharton School, Associate Editor of International Studies Quarterly, Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania's Perry World House (2019-2020), and former Post-Doctoral Fellow at Columbia University's Committee on Global Thought. She has served on award committees and mentoring programs of the American Political Science Association and as program chair for the International Studies Association's International Political Economy section. Her key publications include the book Power and Global Economic Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 2015), as well as 'Global Inequality: Patterns and Explanations' (Polity, 2007), 'What Were They Thinking? The Federal Reserve in the Run-Up to the 2008 Financial Crisis' (Review of International Political Economy, 2015), 'How Did the Washington Consensus Move Within the IMF?' (Review of International Political Economy, 2019), 'Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as an Instrument for Chinese Influence?' (World Development, 2021), 'Private Participation: How Populists Engage with International Organizations' (The Journal of Politics, 2024), and 'Understanding the World Bank's Role in Climate Finance' (Climatic Change, 2025). Kaya has been awarded the Council on Foreign Relations Fellowship for Tenured International Affairs Scholars and multiple Teaching Excellence Awards from the Wharton School.