Brian Mello
Associate Professor of Political Science | Muhlenberg College
Allentown, PA, UNITED STATES
Mello’s areas of study include comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and the politics of social movements.
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Biography
Mello’s areas of study include comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and the politics of social movements. Mello’s research focuses generally on politics in Europe and in the Middle East, and in particular on Turkish politics. His research examines such subjects as the impact of labor movement activism in Turkey, Great Britain, the United States and Japan; international norms of women’s rights as human rights; the affect of civil-military relations on Islamic politics in Turkey; and the causes and consequences of the Arab Spring. He has conducted extensive research in Turkey during the spring of 2004, interviewing union leaders in Istanbul, Ankara, and in the coal mining regions of the Black Sea coast, and then again during the summer of 2008, conducting archival research on the history of women’s rights activism in Turkey at both the Parliamentary Library in Ankara and the Women’s Library in Istanbul.
Together with Mark Stein, Mello has designed a Muhlenberg Integrated Learning Abroad (MILA) course that includes a two week travel experience in Turkey. In addition, Mello has taught a first-year seminar on HBO’s hit show, The Wire, and will be teaching a new first year seminar on anarchist thought.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Comparative Politics
International Relations
Turkey
Syria
ISIS
Education (3)
University of Washington, Seattle: Ph.D., Political Science 2006
University of Washington, Seattle: M.A., Political Science 2001
Fairfield University: B.A., Politics 1999
Links (1)
Languages (1)
- Turkish
Media Appearances (1)
What’s the Risk for Investors of Turkey Going Islamist?
CNBC online
2012-08-30
Brian Mello, a Turkey expert who teaches political science at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, said “political Islam is really popular, especially in Istanbul. You’ll see a lot of women wearing a headscarf, and if you look at the popular support for the ruling party, they’ve done nothing but increase their support.” He said “the real fear” is that Turkey is home to “various Islamic movements that have sought to reclaim the capacity to engage in religion in the public square. ... That could be a slippery slope to an Iranian-style Islamic regime.” The emphasis is on the word “could,” however. According to Mello, “if you look at the U.S. now, and look at all the anti-abortion laws passed in state legislatures, and if you’re a secularist, then you might become afraid about the role of religion in American politics. If those fears are legitimate in the U.S., they’re legitimate in Turkey, too.” But Mello added: “The way religion affects the Republican Party in the United States is stronger than the way it affects (the ruling AKP) in Turkey.” Which is to say — interesting, worrying if you happen to be a secularist — but likely unimportant when it comes to the economy.
Research Focus (1)
Research and Teaching Interests
Mello’s research focuses generally on politics in Europe and in the Middle East, and in particular on Turkish politics.
Research Grants (2)
Comparative Studies Grant
Institute of Turkish Studies $2750
2010-12-31
$2750 grant from the Institute of Turkish Studies for research analyzing the impact of military interventions on Islamic political parties in Turkey and Bangladesh (2009-10)
Harry S. Bridges Center for Labor Studies Research Grant
Center for Labor Studies $2500
2004-01-01
Comparative study of the impacts of English, American and Turkish labor movements on state-society relations during the period of initial, national labor federation formation.
Courses (3)
PSC 103
Introduction to Comparative Government & International Relations
PSC 242
Introduction to Conflict & Peace Studies
FYS 140
Exploring Anarchy
Articles (5)
Preaching to the Apathetic and Uninterested: Teaching Civic Engagement to Freshmen and Non-Majors
Journal for Civic Commitment
2012 In this article we draw from our introductory political science courses that teach civic engagement to freshman and non-majors in order to suggest that our experiences at Jesuit-run Seattle University could hold some clues to invigorating democratic citizenship among young Americans...
International Norms and Women's Rights in Turkey and Japan
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
2011 In 1985, the final year of the UN Decade for Women, 20 countries ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In this article we examine the decisions of two non-Western states to ratify the convention as part of this flood of ratification: Japan and Turkey...
Communists and Compromisers: Explaining Divergences within Turkish Labor Activism, 1960-1980
European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey
2010 In the mid-1960s, a schism split the Turkish labor movement into two confederations. One, the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş) continued to pursue a path that rejected militant activism and radical ideologies in favor of an American-inspired business ...
Political Process and the Development of Labor Insurgency in Turkey, 1945–80
Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest
2007 Much attention in recent political science and sociology has been given to the origins of social movements, revolutions, and other similar forms of contentious politics. Furthermore, unlike other areas of study in the social sciences, analysts of contentious politics have actively sought to draw insights from divergent theoretical approaches...
Recasting the right to self-determination: Group rights and political participation
Social Theory and Practice
2004 Jeremy Waldron points out that "[i]n modern discussions of human rights, we are presented with the claim that particular cultures, communities, and ethnic traditions have a right to exist and a right to be protected from decay, assimilation, and desuetude." In short, there has ...
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