Author Alexandra Hudson, daughter of the "Manners Lady," was raised to respect others. But as she grew up, she discovered a difference between politeness―a superficial appearance of good manners―and true civility. In a timely new book, Hudson sheds light on how civility can help bridge our political divide. 

On May 14, the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is pleased to host Hudson for a conversation about her latest book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves (St. Martin's Press, 2023), with Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

ABOUT THE BOOK

From classical philosophers like Epictetus, to great twentieth-century thinkers like Martin Luther King Jr., to her own experience working in the federal government during one of the most politically fraught eras in our nation's history, Hudson examines how civility―a respect for the personhood and dignity of others―transcends political disagreements. Respecting someone means valuing them enough to tell them when you think they are wrong.

It’s easy to look at the divided state of the world and blame our leaders, the media, or our education system. Instead, we should focus on what we can control: ourselves. The Soul of Civility empowers readers to live tolerantly with others despite deep differences, and to rigorously protest wrongs and debate issues rather than silencing disagreements. A robust public discourse is essential to a truly civil society, and respecting others means telling hard truths. If enough of us decide to change ourselves, we might be able to change the world we live in, too.

Provocative, personal, and acutely relevant, The Soul of Civility is an essential book for our era.

Why do some religious minorities, lacking any significant power and presenting no imminent threat, provoke the ire of popular groups and become targets of violent attacks? Tezcür's book offers the first comparative-historical study of mass atrocities targeting certain liminal minorities that are stigmatized across generations, as they lack theological recognition and social acceptance from a dominant religious group. The combination of hatred based on religious stigmas and political resentment becomes the spark leading to mass violence against these minorities. Case studies, utilizing a rich variety of original sources, focus on anti-Yezidi genocidal attacks in Iraq and anti-Alevi massacres in Turkey.

This event is co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Forum, and CDDRL's Program on Turkey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Güneş Murat Tezcür (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2005) is the Director of the School of Politics and Global Studies at the Arizona State University. He is also a professor in the same school. He is primarily a scholar of darker shades of human experience and explores the trajectories and legacies of political violence and politics of identity with a focus on Iranian, Kurdish, and Turkish human geography as well as the United States. His scholarship has appeared in many leading scholarly journals. His newest book is Liminal Minorities: Religion and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies (Cornell University Press, 2024). He most recently edited The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022). His scholarship has been supported by a variety of entities including the National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and United States Institute of Peace. 

Turkey held its municipal elections on March 31, 2024. Beyond their immediate importance for local governance, addressing issues such as urban spaces and environmental challenges, these elections hold broader significance for the challenge of democracy in a nation that has been grappling with competitive authoritarianism for a while. Nowhere is this significance more pronounced than in the race for Istanbul's mayorship. Istanbul, being the commercial and cultural heart of Turkey, witnessed a landmark double victory by the opposition candidate five years ago, shaking the economic infrastructure of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s governance model. What do these elections signify for the future of democracy, at both local and national levels, in Turkey? Stanford scholars on Turkey will engage in a dialogue with Gönül Tol to explore the implications of the March 31 local elections.

This event is co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Forum, and CDDRL's Program on Turkey.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Gönül Tol is the founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey program and a senior fellow with the Black Sea Program. She is the author of Erdoğan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria. She has taught courses at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies and at the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University on Turkey, Islamist movements in Western Europe, world politics, and the Middle East. She has written extensively on Turkey-U.S. relations, Turkish domestic and foreign policy, and the Kurdish issue. She is a frequent media commentator.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey's pugnacious president, is now the country's longest-serving leader. On his way to the top, he has fought many wars. This book tells the story of those battles against domestic enemies through the lens of the Syrian conflict, which has become part and parcel of Erdoğan's fight to remain in power.

Turkey expert Gönül Tol traces Erdoğan's ideological evolution from a conservative democrat to an Islamist and a Turkish nationalist, and explores how this progression has come to shape his Syria policy, changing the course of the war. She paints a vivid picture of the president's constantly shifting strategy to consolidate his rule, showing that these shifts have transformed Turkey's role in post-uprising Syria from an advocate of democracy, to a power fanning the flames of civil war, to an occupier.

From the first days of Erdoğan's rule through the failed coup against him, via the Kurdish peace process, the Arab uprisings and the refugee crisis, this compelling, authoritative book tells the story of one man's quest to remain in power--tying together the fates of two countries, and changing them both forever.

This event is co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Forum, and CDDRL's Program on Turkey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gönül Tol is the founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey program and a senior fellow with the Black Sea Program. She is the author of Erdogan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria. She has taught courses at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies and at the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University on Turkey, Islamist movements in Western Europe, world politics, and the Middle East.She has written extensively on Turkey-U.S. relations, Turkish domestic politics, and foreign policy and the Kurdish issue. She is a frequent media commentator.

Why do some parties in power commit to democracy while others do not? Sebnem Gumuscu will explain why by relying on her extensive field research in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia. Islamist parties rose to power in free and fair elections in all three countries, yet only in Tunisia remained committed to pluralism and liberal democratic norms. In Turkey and Egypt, in contrast, the AKP and the Muslim Brotherhood subverted democracy by committing to righteous majoritarianism. Gumuscu will explore the different trajectories of these Islamist parties and unpack the role of party factions in charting their democratic course.

This event is co-sponsored by CDDRL's Program on Turkey, the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy, and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sebnem Gumuscu is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College. Her research interests include political Islam, dominant parties, democratization and democratic backsliding, and Middle Eastern and North African politics. Her articles appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Democracy, Government and Opposition, Third World Quarterly, South European Society and Politics, and Middle Eastern Studies.

Her first book, Democracy, Identity, and Foreign Policy in Turkey: Hegemony through Transformation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), co-authored with E. Fuat Keyman, examines Turkey's transformation under the Justice and Development Party since 2002 within the broader context of Turkish modernization.

Her new book, Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia (Cambridge University Press) focuses on Islamist parties and their democratic commitments in power. Relying on extensive fieldwork in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia, she unpacks intra-party dynamics to explain divergent trajectories of Islamist governments.