Research Thursdays - Mehmet Gurses Explores the Social and Political Legacies of Conflict

Mehmet Gurses, Professor of Political Science, is the author of ”Anatomy of a Civil War: Sociopolitical Impacts of the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey” (University of Michigan Press, 2018) and co-editor of newly published “Kurds in the Middle East: Enduring Problems and New Dynamics” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020).

“Anatomy of a Civil War” is an attempt to go beyond the well-documented destructive nature of intra-state armed conflict. It argues that just as the war destroys, it can also construct. By focusing on the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey, it explores the transformative nature of civil conflict on the political and social culture of the civilian population.

Building on original data, a probability sample of 2,100 individuals drawn from three Kurdish-populated provinces in Turkey, and in-depth interviews with dozens of individuals affected by the armed conflict, the book demonstrates the transformation that the Kurdish society has experienced over the past decades. In other words, wartime experiences stimulate positive changes in attitudes toward women, result in developing a democratic political culture, and contribute to the secularization process.

“My research explores the intertwined aspects of armed conflict, religion, gender, and political ideology to shed light on several central questions regarding the social and political legacies of conflict at the micro-level. How does religion play such various roles as instigator, justifier, as well as reconciler during and after the war? Do wartime experiences engender positive attitudes toward women? Does exposure to conflict-related violence help forge an engaged citizenry and lay the groundwork for  a democratic culture?”  - Mehmet Gurses, Professor of Political Science.

Gurses’ research interests include ethnic and religious conflict, post-civil war peace building, post-civil war democratization, Kurdish politics, and the emergence and evolution of the Islamist parties in the Middle East. His journal articles include “Women and War: Women’s Rights in Post-Civil War Society” (with Aimee Arias and Jeffrey Morton) Civil Wars 22 (2-3): 224-242, 2020; “Religion and Armed Conflict: Evidence from the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey” (with Ahmet Erdi Ozturk) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59 (2): 327-340, 2020; “The Evolving Kurdish Question in Turkey” Middle East Critique 29 (3): 307-318, 2020; and “Civil War and Democratization: A Micro-Level Analysis” (with Ayse Betul Celik and Evren Balta) Social Science Quarterly 101 (2): 776-791, 2020.

His work on transnational ethnic kin and civil war outcomes was awarded Honorable Mention for Best Article in 2015 by the Political Research Quarterly. He is comparative politics and international relations editor of the journal, Politics and Religion. 

”Anatomy of a Civil War: Sociopolitical Impacts of the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey” (University of Michigan Press, 2018) is available for purchase here: amazon.com/Anatomy-Civil-War-Sociopolitical-Conflict-ebook/dp/B07HNY42RP

(Printable Version)