Institute of Political Science

Cengiz Gunes, Ph.D.

Cengiz joined the Institute of Political Science at the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen in September 2022 as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. His research project examines the transformation of Turkey’s foreign policy since 2011. His research interests lie at the intersection of the politics and international relations of the Middle East and conflict studies. Empirically his research focuses on Turkey, Iraq and Syria and addresses the key issues of transformation and resolution of violent conflicts, democracy and pluralism, accommodation of minorities, models of territorial and non-territorial autonomy, and national and human security. He has extensive research experience, including conducting interdisciplinary research using discourse analysis, interview and survey methodologies. To date, as author or co-editor, he has published five books. His first book, The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance, rigorously analysed a large volume of primary sources and data to develop a new empirical account of the re-emergence and evolution of Kurdish nationalism since the 1960s, the Kurds' mass mobilisation, and the ongoing conflict. It has received excellent reviews and has become a key text in the study of Kurdish politics in Turkey. His analysis of Kurdish and Turkish politics has also been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including New Left Review, Nationalities Papers, Ethnopolitics, and Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. Before coming to the University of Tübingen, he worked as an Associate Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the Open University, UK. 

Research Interests

  • Foreign policy analysis
  • Turkish foreign and security policy 
  • Poststructuralism in International Relations
  • Discourse Analysis
  • Kurdish nationalism and conflicts in the Middle East 

Publications

Books 

The Cambridge History of the Kurds, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021 (co-editor). 

The Political Representation of Kurds in Turkey: New Actors and Modes of Participation in a Changing Society, Bloomsbury Publishers, London, 2021.

The Kurds in a New Middle East: The Changing Geopolitics of a Regional Conflict, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2019.  

The Kurdish Question in Turkey: New Perspectives on Conflict, Representation and Reconciliation, Routledge, London, 2014 (co-editor).

The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance, Routledge, London, 2012. 

Journal Articles (selected)

‘The Transformation of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Movement in Turkey’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2020, 22 (6), 746-761.

‘Political Representation of Alevi Kurds in Turkey: Historical Trends and Main Transformations’, Kurdish Studies, 2020, 8 (1), 71-90. 

‘Approaches to Kurdish Autonomy in the Middle East’, Nationalities Papers, 2020, 48 (2), 323-338. 

‘Turkey’s New Left’, New Left Review, 2017, 107, 9–30.

'Explaining the PKK's Mobilisation of Kurds in Turkey: Hegemony, Myth and Violence', Ethnopolitics, 2013, 12 (3), 247–267.

Book Chapters (selected)

‘Introduction: The Kurds and the Kurdish Question in the Middle East’, in The Cambridge History of the Kurds, H. Bozarslan, C. Gunes and V. Yadirgi (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021 (with H. Bozarslan and V. Yadirgi).

‘Tribes and their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society’, in The Cambridge History of the Kurds, H. Bozarslan, C. Gunes and V. Yadirgi (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021 (with H. Bozarslan). 

‘Kurdish Politics Across the Middle East during the 1970s’, in The Cambridge History of the Kurds, H. Bozarslan, C. Gunes and V. Yadirgi (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021.

‘Democratic Autonomy in the Kurdish Regions of Syria’, in Non-Territorial Autonomy and Decentralization: Ethno-Cultural Diversity Governance, T. H. Malloy and L. Salat (eds) Routledge: London and New York, 2021 (with D. Bayir).

‘Kurdish Political Representation in Turkey: The Changing Context and New Trends’, in The Kurds in the Middle East: Enduring Problems and New Dynamics, M. Gurses, D. Romano and M. Gunter (eds), Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2020. 

‘Unpacking ‘Democratic Confederalism’ and ‘Democratic Autonomy’ Proposals of the Kurdish Movement in Turkey’, in Autonomy as a Model for Minority Self Government: From Theory to European and Middle Eastern Perspectives, O. Akbulut and E. Aktoprak (eds.), Brill Publishers, Leiden, 2019. 

‘The Rise of pro-Kurdish movement in Turkey, in Routledge Handbook on the Kurds, M. Gunter (ed.), Routledge, London, 2017.

‘Kurdish Mobilisation in Turkey during the 1980s and 1990s’, in The Kurdish Question Revisited, G. Stansfield and M. Shareef (eds.), Hurst and Co, London, 2017. 

‘Political Reconciliation in Turkey: Challenges and Prospects, in The Kurdish Question in Turkey: New Perspectives on Conflict, Representation and Reconciliation, C. Gunes and W. Zeydanlioglu (eds.), Routledge, London, 2017.

‘Political Reconciliation in Turkey: Challenges and Prospects’, in The Kurdish Question in Turkey: New Perspectives on Conflict, Representation and Reconciliation, C. Gunes and W. Zeydanlioglu (eds.), Routledge, London, 2014.

‘Accommodating Kurdish Demands in Turkey’, in The Challenge of Non-Territorial Autonomy: Theory and Case Studies, E. Nimni, A. Osipov and D. Smith (eds.), Peter Lang International Publishers, Bern, 2013.

Research Papers

The impact of the Syrian war on Kurdish Politics across the Middle East, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London, 2015. (with Robert Lowe, invited contribution).