Murat Somer

Murat Somer is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Ozyegin University, Istanbul. His research focuses on comparative polarisation and depolarisation, democratic erosion, resilience and recovery, opposition strategies against democratic erosion, secular and religious politics, and ethnic conflicts.

His recent publications include Democratic Backsliding: How It Happens and How It Can Be Countered (2025, co-edited with Rachel Beatty Riedl, Jennifer McCoy and Kenneth Roberts), Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations, and States (2022), and Polarizing Polities: A Global Threat to Democracy (2019, co-edited with Jennifer McCoy). His current book project, with J. McCoy, is Depolarizing Politics and Rebuilding Democracy.

He held many visiting positions including Democracy and Development Fellow at Princeton University, visiting scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, visiting scholar and lecturer in the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. and GFDD Senior Fellow at Central European University. He has been an active volunteer, participant and informal advisor for civil society and political parties on issues related to democracy, polarisation and rule of law in Turkey, and a frequent contributor to Turkish and international media on these issues.