University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Political Economy and Public Policy (Fields: Political Economy of Institutions and Development; Comparative Politics), 2000

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Economics, 1995

Boğaziçi University, Economics,1992

Polarization and Depolarization; Democratization, Democratic Erosion and Opposition Behavior; Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism; Political Religion and Secularism; the Kurdish Question

Murat Somer is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Ozyegin University, Istanbul, and a scholar of comparative politics concerned about questions of peaceful, democratic and equitable development, his writings focusing on comparative polarization, democratization and depolarization, democratic erosion, opposition behavior, religious and secular politics, ethnic conflicts and the Kurdish Question. Among others, he is the author of Polarizing Polities: A Global Threat to Democracy (co-edited with Jennifer McCoy) and Return to Point Zero: The Turkish-Kurdish Question and How Politics and Ideas (Re)Make Empires, Nations and States. He is currently working on a monograph (with Jennifer McCoy) on how to counter extreme polarization under contract with Princeton University Press, and on another book on democratic erosion and opposition behavior. Before joining OzU, he served as Assistant, Associate and Full Professor at Koç University, Istanbul, and held various visiting positions including Democracy and Development Fellow at Princeton University, Senior Visiting Scholar at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies, Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. He is a research affiliate of the Democracy Institute at Central European University, and a member of the Democratic Erosion Consortium at Brown University. He has been an active volunteer, participant and advisor for civil society and political parties on issues related to democracy, polarization and rule of law in Turkey, and a frequent contributor to domestic and international media including CNN International, Washington Post, New York Times, Euronews and Deutsche Welle.