M. Hakan yavuz
  • Professor, Political Science Department
801-581-7031

Current Courses

Spring 2025

  • POLS 220-001
    Intr Comparatv Politics
  • POLS 2200-001
    Intr Comparatv Politics
    Location: GC 2900 (GC 2900)
  • POLS 5440-001
    Nation/Ethnc Conflict
    Location: GC 3700 (GC 3700)

Fall 2024

Professional Organizations

  • Middle East Studies Association of North America. 01/01/2018 - 12/2022. Position : Member.
  • Historians Without Borders (Helsinki). 01/01/2018 - 12/2024. Position : Member.

Teaching Philosophy

My main goal in teaching undergraduates is to encourage students to participate in collective and individual modes of thinking and become active participants in class discussions.  I do not require my students to memorize or get bogged down in details.  I want them to develop the mode of analytical thinking and ways of constructing arguments and counterarguments in the classroom environment.  I try to get them to think through class participation and writing assignments.  In short, a mode of analytical reasoning rooted in socio-political content is the center of my teaching philosophy.  I taught Introduction to Comparative Politics and Middle East Comparative politics by organizing the material around five major concepts: state, civil society, democracy, economic liberalization, and the politics of identity.  I found this way of teaching useful and my students reacted positively.  I will continue to use a theme-centered approach rather than a country-centered one, an approach that goes along with my studies in globalization.  In my senior seminars, I use diverse instruments of teaching.  For instance, I invite religious scholars or leaders from different religions to introduce the doctrine of their faith and they way in which they cope with modern challenges.  I also invited several speakers and showed four videos on new religions and religious fundamentalisms. 

As a teacher, I am very fortunate that my research agenda and teaching duties are overlapping and complementary.  My teaching areas are comparative politics, religion and politics, globalization and Islam, nationalism and ethnic conflicts, genocide and state-society relations in the Middle East and Central Asia.  In addition to my regular courses, I have supervised directed reading on globalization, the Middle East politics, genocide and religion.  I am currently advising 18 graduate students. 

Courses I Teach

  • 5470 - Islam and democracy
    This course examines the patterns of interaction between Islamic movements and democratization in different Muslim societies. In contemporary societies notions of the sacred continue to be vital yet ever changing. Across the globe in places such as India, Poland, Brazil, Israel, Iran, and not least the United States, religious traditions and the norms derived from them continue to play a prominent and contentious role in their respective societies. One of the major forces of the 21st century has been socio-political Islamic movements based upon a religious understanding of the public sphere and political reasoning. This course will be guided by the following research question: When and under what conditions are Islamic movements likely to hinder or promote civil society and democracy? In order to answer this question, we will examine several liberal, moderate, traditional and radical Islamic movements, placing particular emphasis on Turkey and its rich history of past and present Islamic political movements. Turkey is important in this respect because it not only exhibits the tensions that exist between the religious and the secular, tradition and modernity, but also the possibility of cohabitation, change, and compromise.
  • 6840 - Seminar Middle East Politics
    The Middle East has experienced a series of socio-political crises which have heightened the Western consciousness more than any other region of the world. This course seeks to explain the turbulent politics of the modern Middle East. The course is divided into two sections. The goal of the first part is to critically consider types of explanations –development, political culture, state formation, and political and economic liberalization (civil society). Part two will examine the following political actors: military, religious groups, political parties, gender/sexuality-based social movements, ethno-confessional /national loyalties and movements. Course Philosophy The goal of the course is to enable students to write a theoretically guided and empirically rooted research paper. I expect you to be familiar with the idioms, theories, and controversies of Middle East politics. The success of this course depends on your continued and sustained reading and participation.

Teaching Projects

  • Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict (online course development). Project Lead: Hakan Yavuz. 04/01/2019 - 08/01/2020.
  • Online course on Introduction to Islam . Project Lead: Hakan Yavuz. 01/01/2019 - 05/01/2020.

Current Students

  • Hamida Al Masudi, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • Hamida Al Masudi, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • Michael Howard-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Shaohua Lei-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
  • Ruber Diaz-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Michael Howard-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • EL HUSSEINI,ALI MOHAMAD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Other. Role: Chair.
  • EL HUSSEINI,ALI MOHAMAD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Other. Role: Chair.
  • Shaohua Lei-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
  • Ruber Diaz-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Masaki Kakizaki-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.
  • Payam Foroughi-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.
  • JENSEN,REILLY S, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Masaki Kakizaki-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.
  • FRANCIS,SHANNA LISA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Payam Foroughi-PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.
  • JENSEN,REILLY S, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • FRANCIS,SHANNA LISA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • BARTHOLOMEW,DANIEL, MEC, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • Jason Alexander MA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • Gerardo Gonzalez-MA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • BARTHOLOMEW,DANIEL MId, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • KLENK,FERAS ALEXANDER, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • SMUIN,BENJAMIN JAMES, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • BARTHOLOMEW,DANIEL MId, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • KLENK,FERAS ALEXANDER, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • SMUIN,BENJAMIN JAMES, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.
  • Jason Alexander MA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • BARTHOLOMEW,DANIEL, MEC, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Chair.
  • Gerardo Gonzalez-MA, Master of Arts (M.A.), Project Type: Thesis. Role: Member.

Former Students

  • DOGAN,MEHMET ALI, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
  • DOGAN,MEHMET ALI, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.