Güneş Murat Tezcür (English: Gunes Murat Tezcur), a professor of Political Science, is the Director of School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University (ASU). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2005. Previously, he held the Jalal Talabani Endowed Chair at the University of Central Florida(UCF). He also established The Kurdish Political Studies Program[1] at UCF, the first and only academic entity in North America dedicated to the study of Kurdish issues, in 2015. His research revolves around Middle East politics with a specific focus on political violence,[2] Islamic politics, and democratization[3] in Iran and Turkey.[4] His most recent book is Liminal Minorities: Religion and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies (Cornell University Press, 2024). Tezcür is also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics and Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East: Shifting Identities, Borders, and the Experience of Minority Communities.

His best-known works are on the interrelated dynamics of Islamic party politics and democratic governance and on the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey in which he explains why ordinary individuals take risks and join a rebellion. The latter work is based on an original dataset involving biographies of thousands of militants. He argues that the ethnic cleavages do not matter by themselves but they become politically salient when individuals from a particular ethnic minority face state repression and see their ethnicity and identity under threat.[5] Women have their distinctive motivates to take arms. the intersection of class and gender shapes distinctive patterns of mobilization among women. In particular, uneducated women with lower-class backgrounds join the movement because it provides them with the most viable way out of patriarchal relations.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Tezcur, Gunes Murat. "Biography". tezcur.org.
  2. ^ Tezcür, Güneş Murat (2015). "Violence and Nationalist Mobilization: The Onset of the Kurdish Insurgency in Turkey". Nationalities Papers. 43 (2): 248–266. doi:10.1080/00905992.2014.970527.
  3. ^ Tezcür, Güneş Murat (2012). "Democracy Promotion, Authoritarian Resiliency, and Political Unrest in Iran". Democratization. 19 (1): 120–140. doi:10.1080/13510347.2012.641296.
  4. ^ Güneş Murat Tezcür, 2016. Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moderation. Austin: University of Texas Press
  5. ^ Güneş Murat Tezcür, 2016. "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Risks: Participation in an Ethnic Rebellion," American Political Science Review 110(2): 247-64.
  6. ^ Güneş Murat Tezcür, 2020. "A Path out of Patriarchy: Political Agency and Social Identity of Women," Perspectives on Politics 18(3): 722-739.

His favorite football team is the almighty Galatasaray. He is the father of Babil Tezcur.