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Some of the research projects of the CTS faculty:

1. Birol Yeşilada

World Values Survey - Cyprus

P.I. Birol Yeşilada (Portland State University) and co-P.I.s Harry Anastasiou (Portland State University), Craig Webster (University of Nicosia), and Nicos Peristianis (University of Nicosia) conducted the first World Values Survey in Cyprus during February - April 2006. The World Values Survey is a worldwide investigation of sociocultural and political change. It is conducted by a network of social scientist at leading universities all around world. (Partial funding for this survey in Cyprus was provided by the Jubitz Family Foundation of Portland Oregon.)

Power Transition Theory

Power Transition thory is based on A.F.K. Organski’s (1958) seminal work in world politics. The most basic proposition is that severe war is most likely to occur when the relative power of two competing and dissatisfied nations approaches parity. However, the dynamics of power do not account for the full story. A second fundamental proposition is that nations do not interact in anarchy. Rather, the dominant nation establishes the status quo and persuades satisfied nations to join the existing order. The nations that rank as potential challengers have two options. A dissatisfied challenger whose preferences for the ordering of the international system differ substantially from the dominant order will seek to alter the status quo. Conversely, a satisfied challenger whose preferences for the ordering of the international system are closely aligned with the dominant nation will seek to preserve the status quo or will attempt to alter it by cooperative means. The policy options presented by these two different interactions differ substantially.

EU-Turkey Relations

Islam and Turkish Cypriots

Political Attitudes and the Tolerance of Immigrants

Religiosity and Social Values of Cypriots

2. Pelin Başçι

3. Tuğrul Keskin

Sociology of Islam and Social Theory.

This project analyzes Islamic political social and economic structures from the lenses of Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel and compares them with Muhammad Abduh, Hasan Al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb and Mawdudi. This research interest emerges from the intersection of social theory, political economy, religion and the sociology of work. I am interested in an approach to the theoretical study of society, religion and politics that takes into account the broader questions of Muslim Society, Islam, secularism, modernity and the capitalist mode of production, and political sociology. Currently (especially in consideration of the work of Max Weber, Sayyid Qutb, Mawdudi, Maxime Rodinson, and Ernest Gellner), I am concerned with the transformation of what I call domestication of religion through economic routinization and discipline that goes beyond the conventional modes of secularization.

Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies

The Future of Uyghur Nationalism and Its Impact on US-China Relations

The aim of my study is to provide a historical overview of Uyghur nationalism in China after the occupation of the Eastern Turkistan Republic, and to provide insight into future ramifications for US-China relations. In this research, I will analyze the elements that have caused the rise in the Uyghur nationalist movement. Uyghurs are an indigenous population of Central Asia and the West part of China, called Xinjiang in Chinese. Uyghurs have called their homeland Eastern Turkistan. China has many different ethnic and religious groups, but the Uyghur case is very unique, because Uyghurs are ethnically and religiously very distinctive from the Chinese. There are many other Muslim minorities in China, but the Uyghur is the dominant ethnic group, among Muslims with a population of approximately 15 million people. We have no exact number, because after the Cultural Revolution there has been domestic migration that has taken place within the last thirty years and the demographic structure in Eastern Turkistan has changed to the detriment of the Uyghur population. Within the next ten to fifteen years, Uyghurs will be a minority group in their homeland.

Sociology of Africa: The History of Colonialization in the 20th Century

This project is based on a Post-Colonial approach to African Politics. Four different historical processes will be reviewed within this research, including i). The Berlin Conference and ii). WWI: 1884-1918, Struggle for Freedom and Equality: 1918-1950s, iii). The Cold War Effect in Africa: Socialism versus Imperialism: 1950-1980 and iv). The Neoliberalist Process in Africa: the Collapse of Dreams.

Sociology of Africa

"Behind Closed Doors" in Insight Turkey (June 2005) reprinted with persmission of the Journal.

4. Grant Farr

Professor Farr is presently working the role of the Islamic seminaries, or madrassas, in Afghanistan. This research is funded though a grant by the National Bureau of Asian Research and is a three year project to examine the role Islam and Islamic schools throughout South Asia. Two articles have been published on this topic. In addition, he has recently published an article on the Hazara, an ethnic group that lives in the high mountains of Central Afghanistan.

Academics & Research