Ahmet T Kuru
Biographic Data
| ID | 1598212 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ahmet T Kuru |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ahmet T |
| FAMILY NAME | Kuru |
| SIGNATURE | KURU A T |
| AFFILIATIONS | San Diego State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4149-0993 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 146 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 19 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Secularism, Islamism, and the Future of Turkey
In March 2025, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was jailed on corruption charges—the same day he was elected as the Turkish opposition’s presidential candidate by 15 million voters in an unprecedented primary. His candidacy poses a significant challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 22-year rule and redefines the Islamist-secularist divide by resonating with both religious and secular voters. As Erdoğan’s support declines amid economic turmoil…
Religious diversity and passive secularism
Islamism and nationalism
Historically, religion and nationalism were opposing forces in many countries. Recently, however, they began to converge as part of rising populist movements globally. In the Muslim world, the partnership between Islamists and nationalists has become evident in several important countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Malaysia. This merging of Islamism and populist nationalism in the last decade signifies a third period in the Mu…
Creating the Desired Citizen
Bringing Ideas and Religions Back in Political Science
Political Science has been dominated by quantitative methods and formal theory. Recently, even the editorial board of the American Political Science Review implicitly admitted the domination of statistics and rational choice in the discipline. Yet most books asking big questions have been written by scholars who employ qualitative, particularly comparative historical, methods. Over the last two decades, Daniel Philpott has produced books and arti…
The Rise of Islamic Political Movements and Parties
Islamic groups have increasingly had a substantial political impact throughout the Muslim world. Analyzing the differences between various types of Islamic groups is crucial to understanding the multiple aspects of this impact. Esen Kirdiş’s timely book analyzes three significant countries—Morocco, Turkey, and Jordan—to explore two types of Islamic groups. The first one is an Islamist political party, which aspires to a top-down Islamization of s…
Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment
Why do Muslim-majority countries exhibit high levels of authoritarianism and low levels of socio-economic development in comparison to world averages? Ahmet T. Kuru criticizes explanations which point to Islam as the cause of this disparity, because Muslims were philosophically and socio-economically more developed than Western Europeans between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Nor was Western colonialism the cause: Muslims had already suffered p…
Authoritarianism and Democracy in Muslim Countries
When Victory is Not an Option
Journal Article When Victory is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics Get access When Victory Is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics by Nathan J. Brown. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2012. 272 pp. $24.95. Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru Brookings Doha Center and San Diego State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 2, Summe…
Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkey by Ergun Özbudun and Ömer Faruk Gençkaya
Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey
Journal Article Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey: The Case of the AKP by William Hale and Ergun Özbudun: Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkey by Ergun Özbudun and Ömer Faruk Gençkaya Get access Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey: The Case of the AKPby William Haleand Ergun Özbudun. New York, Routledge, 2009. 214pp. $130.00.Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkeyby Ergu…
Secularism and State Policies toward Religion
Why do secular states pursue different policies toward religion? This book provides a generalizable argument about the impact of ideological struggles on the public policy making process, as well as a state-religion regimes index of 197 countries. More specifically, it analyzes why American state policies are largely tolerant of religion, whereas French and Turkish policies generally prohibit its public visibility, as seen in their bans on Muslim…
Jonathan Lawrence and Justin Vaisse, Integrating Islam
Apolitical Interpretation of Islam
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Islam has generally been represented in the media as a political ideology and some academics have over-emphasized this political image of Islam. These are not baseless speculations; there are several political Islamic groups worldwide. However, there are also many apolitical Islamic groups. This article analyzes one of the most influential apolitical Islamic movements in the world, the Nurcus, and its found…
Secularism, State Policies, and Muslims in Europe Analyzing French Exceptionalism
Islam has increasingly become an internal affair in several western European countries, where the population has grown to ten to fifteen million. In recent years, the European public has intensely discussed Muslims and Islam on several occasions, from terrorist attacks in London and Madrid to the debates on Danish cartoons. In short, there is today a Muslim question in the minds of many European politicians when it comes to the issues of immigrat…
Élise Massicard, L'autre TurquieParis
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Passive and Assertive Secularism
Why do secular states pursue substantially different policies toward religion? The United States, France, and Turkey are secular states that lack any official religion and have legal systems free from religious control. The French and Turkish states have banned students' headscarves in public schools, whereas the U.S. has allowed students to wear religious symbols and attire. Using the method of process tracing, the author argues that state polic…
Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements
Journal Article Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements: Three Turkish Cases Get access Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru AHMET T. KURU is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Washington. His dissertation analyzes secularism and state—religion relations in the United States, France, and Turkey. He has published various articles on Islam and modernity, and on nation building in Central Asia. Search for o…
Between the state and cultural zones
Passive and Assertive Secularism
Why do secular states pursue substantially different policies toward religion? The United States, France, and Turkey are secular states that lack any official religion and have legal systems free from religious control. The French and Turkish states have banned students' headscarves in public schools, whereas the U.S. has allowed students to wear religious symbols and attire. Using the method of process tracing, the author argues that state polic…
Secularism, State Policies, and Muslims in Europe Analyzing French Exceptionalism
Islam has increasingly become an internal affair in several western European countries, where the population has grown to ten to fifteen million. In recent years, the European public has intensely discussed Muslims and Islam on several occasions, from terrorist attacks in London and Madrid to the debates on Danish cartoons. In short, there is today a Muslim question in the minds of many European politicians when it comes to the issues of immigrat…
Authoritarianism and Democracy in Muslim Countries
Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements
Journal Article Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements: Three Turkish Cases Get access Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru AHMET T. KURU is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Washington. His dissertation analyzes secularism and state—religion relations in the United States, France, and Turkey. He has published various articles on Islam and modernity, and on nation building in Central Asia. Search for o…
Apolitical Interpretation of Islam
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Islam has generally been represented in the media as a political ideology and some academics have over-emphasized this political image of Islam. These are not baseless speculations; there are several political Islamic groups worldwide. However, there are also many apolitical Islamic groups. This article analyzes one of the most influential apolitical Islamic movements in the world, the Nurcus, and its found…
Between the state and cultural zones
When Victory is Not an Option
Journal Article When Victory is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics Get access When Victory Is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics by Nathan J. Brown. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2012. 272 pp. $24.95. Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru Brookings Doha Center and San Diego State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 2, Summe…
Élise Massicard, L'autre TurquieParis
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Between the state and cultural zones
Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements
Journal Article Globalization and Diversification of Islamic Movements: Three Turkish Cases Get access Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru AHMET T. KURU is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Washington. His dissertation analyzes secularism and state—religion relations in the United States, France, and Turkey. He has published various articles on Islam and modernity, and on nation building in Central Asia. Search for o…
Élise Massicard, L'autre TurquieParis
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Passive and Assertive Secularism
Why do secular states pursue substantially different policies toward religion? The United States, France, and Turkey are secular states that lack any official religion and have legal systems free from religious control. The French and Turkish states have banned students' headscarves in public schools, whereas the U.S. has allowed students to wear religious symbols and attire. Using the method of process tracing, the author argues that state polic…
Jonathan Lawrence and Justin Vaisse, Integrating Islam
Apolitical Interpretation of Islam
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Islam has generally been represented in the media as a political ideology and some academics have over-emphasized this political image of Islam. These are not baseless speculations; there are several political Islamic groups worldwide. However, there are also many apolitical Islamic groups. This article analyzes one of the most influential apolitical Islamic movements in the world, the Nurcus, and its found…
Secularism, State Policies, and Muslims in Europe Analyzing French Exceptionalism
Islam has increasingly become an internal affair in several western European countries, where the population has grown to ten to fifteen million. In recent years, the European public has intensely discussed Muslims and Islam on several occasions, from terrorist attacks in London and Madrid to the debates on Danish cartoons. In short, there is today a Muslim question in the minds of many European politicians when it comes to the issues of immigrat…
Secularism and State Policies toward Religion
Why do secular states pursue different policies toward religion? This book provides a generalizable argument about the impact of ideological struggles on the public policy making process, as well as a state-religion regimes index of 197 countries. More specifically, it analyzes why American state policies are largely tolerant of religion, whereas French and Turkish policies generally prohibit its public visibility, as seen in their bans on Muslim…
Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkey by Ergun Özbudun and Ömer Faruk Gençkaya
Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey
Journal Article Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey: The Case of the AKP by William Hale and Ergun Özbudun: Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkey by Ergun Özbudun and Ömer Faruk Gençkaya Get access Islamism, Democracy, and Liberalism in Turkey: The Case of the AKPby William Haleand Ergun Özbudun. New York, Routledge, 2009. 214pp. $130.00.Democratization and the Politics of Constitution Making in Turkeyby Ergu…
When Victory is Not an Option
Journal Article When Victory is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics Get access When Victory Is Not an Option: Islamist Movements in Arab Politics by Nathan J. Brown. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2012. 272 pp. $24.95. Ahmet T. Kuru Ahmet T. Kuru Brookings Doha Center and San Diego State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 128, Issue 2, Summe…
Authoritarianism and Democracy in Muslim Countries
Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment
Why do Muslim-majority countries exhibit high levels of authoritarianism and low levels of socio-economic development in comparison to world averages? Ahmet T. Kuru criticizes explanations which point to Islam as the cause of this disparity, because Muslims were philosophically and socio-economically more developed than Western Europeans between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Nor was Western colonialism the cause: Muslims had already suffered p…
The Rise of Islamic Political Movements and Parties
Islamic groups have increasingly had a substantial political impact throughout the Muslim world. Analyzing the differences between various types of Islamic groups is crucial to understanding the multiple aspects of this impact. Esen Kirdiş’s timely book analyzes three significant countries—Morocco, Turkey, and Jordan—to explore two types of Islamic groups. The first one is an Islamist political party, which aspires to a top-down Islamization of s…
Bringing Ideas and Religions Back in Political Science
Political Science has been dominated by quantitative methods and formal theory. Recently, even the editorial board of the American Political Science Review implicitly admitted the domination of statistics and rational choice in the discipline. Yet most books asking big questions have been written by scholars who employ qualitative, particularly comparative historical, methods. Over the last two decades, Daniel Philpott has produced books and arti…
Creating the Desired Citizen
Islamism and nationalism
Historically, religion and nationalism were opposing forces in many countries. Recently, however, they began to converge as part of rising populist movements globally. In the Muslim world, the partnership between Islamists and nationalists has become evident in several important countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Malaysia. This merging of Islamism and populist nationalism in the last decade signifies a third period in the Mu…
Secularism, Islamism, and the Future of Turkey
In March 2025, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was jailed on corruption charges—the same day he was elected as the Turkish opposition’s presidential candidate by 15 million voters in an unprecedented primary. His candidacy poses a significant challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 22-year rule and redefines the Islamist-secularist divide by resonating with both religious and secular voters. As Erdoğan’s support declines amid economic turmoil…
Religious diversity and passive secularism
Political science (19 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (17 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Political economy (9 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (9 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (7 works) · Democracy (6 works)