Prof Ihsan Yilmaz

Ihsan Yilmaz is Research Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies and Intercultural Dialogue at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI), Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.

He has conducted research on nation-building; citizenship; authoritarianism; populism; transnationalism; ethnic-religious-political identities and their securitisation (Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia); minority-majority relations (Australia, Turkey, the UK and the USA); socio-legal affairs, identities, belonging and political participation of Muslim minorities in the West (the UK, Australia, and the USA); Islam-state-society relations in majority and minority contexts; global Islamic movements; political Islam in a comparative perspective; Turkish politics; Turkish diasporas (the UK, Australia, the USA); transnationalism; intergroup contact (Australia); and politics of victimhood (Australia, Turkey).

He was professor of political science at Istanbul Fatih University (2008-2016), casual lecturer in law, social sciences and politics at SOAS, University of London (2001-2008) where he taught “Islamic Law and Society”, “Legal Systems of Asia and Africa” and “Turkish Politics” at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Before SOAS, he was a fellow at Center for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford (1999-2001) where he worked on Muslim political participation in the UK and unofficial Muslim laws of young Muslims in the West.

Academic & Teaching
Professor of Political Science, Istanbul Fatih University, 2008 - 2016
Lecturer in Law, University of London, SOAS, 2001 - 2008
Fellow, Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford, 1999 - 2001

Academic Leadership Positions
Director, PhD Programme in Political Science and International Relations, Fatih University, 2009 - 2016
 

Visiting Professorship

Visiting Professor, University of Insubria, Como, Italy, May 2014            

Visiting Professor, University of Salzburg, Austria, April 2013
Visiting Professor, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, May 2012
Visiting Professor, University of East Finland, Finland, May 2011

Muslim Politics, Muslim Identity, Citizenship, Belonging, Participation (Australia, UK, USA, Middle East)

Islam-State-Society-Law (Australia, Middle East, UK, USA)

Securitization of Minority Identities (Australia, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia)

Turkish Diasporas (Australia, UK, USA)

Muslim Minorities (Australia, UK, USA)

Transnational Islam, Victimhood, Muslim Youth (Australia, Turkey, UK, USA)

Muslim Minorities - Law - Transnationalism - Politics (Australia, UK, USA)

Political Science

Political Sociology

Comparative Politics

Political Party Systems

Political Philosophy (Modern & Islamic)

Middle East Politics

Religion and Political Culture

Muslim Politics in International and Global Perspective

Islamic Studies

Islamic Law

Turkish Politics

British Politics

PhD
Seminar in Turkish Politics (FU)
Seminar in Political Theory (FU)
Comparative Politics (FU)

MA
Turkish Politics (FU)
Islamic Law (SOAS)
Legal Systems of Asia and Africa (SOAS)
Seminar in Turkish Politics (SOAS)

Undergraduate
Religion and Politics in Comparative & International Perspective (FU)
Politics and Law (FU)
Classical Modern Political Thought (FU)
Modern Political Thought (FU)
Political Culture and Religion (FU)
Political Parties and Party Systems (FU)
Comparative Political Systems (FU)
Turkish Political Thought (FU)
Turkish Politics (FU)
Introduction to Public Administration (FU)
Introduction to Turkish Administrative System (FU)
Legal Systems of Asia and Africa (SOAS)
Islamic Law (SOAS)

Populism - Authoritarianism - Religion

Islam-State-Society-Law (Middle East, Pakistan, Australia, UK, USA) 

Transnational Islam, Muslim Identity, Victimhood (Australia, Turkey)

Securitization of Minority Identities (Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Australia)

Muslim Politics, Belonging, Participation (UK, USA, Australia)

Turkish Diasporas (Australia, UK, USA)

Muslim Minorities (Australia, UK, USA)

• Muslim Citizens between Islamic Law and State Law: Legal Pluralism in England, Turkey and Pakistan (tentative title), Interdisciplinary Approaches to Legal Pluralism in Muslim Context, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Münster, Germany. 6-7 October 2016.
• Religious Movements and Dialogue. Hizmet in Comparative Perspective: The Abant Experience, Transnational Religious Movements, Dialogue and Economic Development: The Hizmet Movement in Comparative Perspective, University of Turin, Italy, 10-11 December 2015.
• Religious Political Parties in Turkey, Religions and Constitutional Transitions in the Muslim Mediterranean:  The Pluralistic Moment, Insubria University, in Como, Italy, 3-5 June2014.
• Power of the State, Religion and Mass Media, International Conference on Christianity – Orthodoxy and the Media in Modern World, International Secretariat of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, Thessaloniki, Greece, 12–16 May 2014.
• Islam, Peacebuilding and the Gülen Movement, The Belfast International Social Science Conference, the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, 2 May 2014.
• Islam, Secularism, Equal Citizenship, International Conference of Religion, Citizenship and Security, Institute for Global Engagement and the al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 5-6 December 2013.
• State-Religion Arrangements in Euro-Islamic Relationship, International Seminar on Religions and International Relations: State-Religions Arrangements in a Post-Western World. A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on Freedom of Religion, ISPI, The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Autonomous Province of Trento, Trento, Italy, 17-18 October 2013.
• Civil Society & Reform in Turkey, Conference on Markets, Civil Society, and Democratic Change in the Middle East, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, USA, 2 October 2013.
• Sacred, Secular, and Freedom of Expression: A Muslim Perspective, Respect for the Sacred versus Freedom of Expression, John Carol University, Cleveland, Ohio / USA, Apr. 2013.
• The Way Forward, Advancing Freedom of Expression in Turkey, Advancing Freedom of Expression in Turkey, Stockholm, Sweden, Mar. 2013.
• Contributions of the Hizmet Movement towards the Consolidation of Democracy in Turkey, Consolidating Multicultural Democracy, The 4th World Peace Forum (WPF), Bogor, Indonesia, Nov. 2012.
• An Uneasy Mix: The State, Radicalism and Post-Islamism in Tajikistan, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, New Orleans, USA, Nov. 2012.
• Sacred, Secular, Twin Tolerations and the Hizmet, Ideal Human and Ideal Society in the Thought of M. Fethullah Gülen, Lahore, Pakistan, Nov. 2012.
• The Role of Bridging and Linking Social Capital in the Gülen Movement’s Interculturalist Activities, Société et médias dans le dialogue interculturel, Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 2012.
• Shariah in Secular Turkish Courts: An Analysis of the Encounters between Official and Unofficial Laws, The 2012 International Conference on Law and Society, Law and Society Association, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Jun. 2012.
• Shatibi and Habermas in Harmony on Religion in the Public Sphere: Gülen’s Civil Islam and the Transformation of Turkish Political Islam, 3rd International Conference on Islam (ICI12), The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin-Madison / USA, Apr. 2012.
• From Islamism to Non-Islamism: Turkish Faith-Based Civil Society’s Transformative Influence on Islamism as an Inspiration to the Middle East, International Seminar: The Arab Spring: Region and India, New Delhi, India, Feb. 2012.
   

Ihsan regularly wrote columns between 2007-2016 for Today's Zaman, an English language daily published in Turkey and between 2015-2016 for Meydan, a popular daily published in Turkish. He also contributed to many TV programmes in Turkish and English on politics, Islamism and Turkish affairs.

• Columnist: Meydan Gazetesi (Turkish Daily), three times a week, 2015-2016.
• Columnist: Today’s Zaman (English Daily), twice a week, 2007-2016.
• Regular TV Commentator: Samanyolu TV, once a week, 2014-2015.
• Frequent Appearances: CNN Turk, Kanal D, Haberturk TV, Bugun TV, Arti 1
• Interviewed by: CNN International, Deutsche Welle, ABC, Al Jazeera, China State TV, WSJ, El Pais, Le Temps, Al Ahram, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Zaman, Today’s Zaman, Aksiyon, Rotahaber, + Greek, Swiss, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Brazilian dailies

Ihsan is also an active social media user with 199.000 Twitter followers

• Afgan Women in Geelong, Victoria, RIOSC (with Siew Mee Barton and Faridullah Bezhan). 31.600 AUD.