My research agenda centers on a fundamental question: how do political and social processes legitimise violence, suppress resistance, and enable the pursuit of dignity in the aftermath of injustice? Working across the long historical durée, I analyse contemporary crises through historically-grounded research that connects past to present. I use a globally comparative yet locally grounded approach to reveal how power structures evolve over time and how communities navigate violence across different contexts. My research offers new perspectives on issues often treated as merely present-day phenomena by bringing historical depth to urgent contemporary questions, uncovering the deeper patterns that shape social/political conflict and the conditions under which it can be challenged or transformed.

 

Books

I am the author of three books:

 

The Moral Trap: How Autocrats Criminalize and Divide Societies

(University of California Press, forthcoming April 2027) shows how autocrats weaponise morality to justify repression, from Nazi Germany to contemporary Turkey, the United States, European countries, Iran, and Russia.

 

A Slow Revolution: The Betrayal of Sicilians and Their War on the Mafia

(Cornell University Press, 2026) draws on over a decade of archival and fieldwork in Sicily to explain why some struggles for justice endure for centuries.

Violence and Militants: From Ottoman Rebellions to Jihadist Organizations

(McGill–Queen's University Press, 2019) examines how militants rationalise violence across centuries and political contexts.

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Methodological Approach

My research develops analytical concepts that connect historical rupture, moral discourse, and lived experience. This connection enables me to delve into systematic comparison across regions, regimes, and time periods. I work within a comparative historical sociological framework, combining long-term ethnographic engagement, archival research, in-depth interviews, and advanced qualitative analysis to explore social and political processes over time. Across my work, I examine how violence and injustice are produced, justified, and contested, and how people navigate oppression while seeking dignity and recognition.

 

Research Leadership & Funding

I have secured approximately £2.9 million in competitive research funding from the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, AHRC, the European Council, and the Max Planck Institute, as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator. Alongside my research, I am Editor-in-Chief of the International Social Science Journal (UNESCO/Wiley), founded the Temple Studies in Criminalization, History, and Society book series at Temple University Press. I am an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of History.
 

Public Scholarship & Affiliations

Trained in Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I bring a strongly international perspective to questions of power, resistance, and collective identity. My research contributes to sociological and political theory as well as comparative historical sociology by linking local histories to global structures of power, control, and conflict. I regularly contribute to major media outlets on contemporary political and social issues, translating academic research for public audiences. I have contributed as an expert to the BBC, The Times, and other national and international newspapers and media outlets, and I write regularly for general audiences. For more information, please visit the Media/Public Scholarship page of this website. I have held Visiting Professor and Fellowship positions at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, the University of Palermo, the University of Oxford, and Rutgers University. Additionally, I am Senior Research Affiliate with the Canadian Network for Terrorism, Security, and Society (TSAS) and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). I am also an Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

 

Commitment to LGBTQI+ Scholars

As a gay man, I am keenly aware of the importance of visibility and institutional support. I am committed to supporting LGBTQI+ scholars in academia. I provide voluntary mentorship to PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers from the queer community and collaborate with the ISA’s LGBTQA Caucus to build structured support for early-career scholars.

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