Mirjam Künkler
Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies

email: kuenkler@princeton.EDU

PhD, (Political Science), Columbia University

Political Scientist Mirjam Künkler joined the Department in 2007. She is currently working on a book that analyzes the impact of contemporary Islamic thought and social movement activism on the transformation of authoritarian rule in Iran (1989-2005) and Indonesia (1974-1998).

Of broader comparative interest to her are questions about

1. Comparative Relations between Religion and State in the Muslim World – a project funded by Princeton University’s Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.
2. Religious Parties in the Muslim world – a three-year research project she is undertaking together with Güneş Murat Tezcür, funded by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

Before joining Princeton, Künkler served as the Deputy Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR) at Columbia University, under the directorship of Alfred Stepan.

Künkler is the Trustee for Princeton University to the American Institute for Iranian Studies (AIIrS) and a Member of the Board of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS).

COURSES:

Künkler is on leave in 2009/2010. In the fall semester of 2010, she will teach the seminars “Iran since the Revolution (NES 321/ POL 369)” and “The Politics of the Contemporary Muslim World (POL 528/ NES 549).”

EVENTS:

March 18-20, 2010, Manfred Brocker (University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and Luce Fellow, Princeton) and Mirjam Künkler will convene the workshop “Religious Political Parties in Democratic Consolidation Processes” at Princeton University.

In September 2009, Hanna Lerner (Tel Aviv University) and Mirjam Künkler convened the workshop 'Comparative Perspectives on Critical Junctures in Democratic Religion-State Relations' at Bosphorous University, Istanbul.

In April 2009, Alfred Stepan (Columbia University) and Mirjam Künkler convened the conference “Indonesia post-1998: A Democratic Decade?” at Columbia University.

In March 2009, Hanna Lerner (Tel Aviv University) and Mirjam Künkler convened the workshop 'Law, Religion and Democracy' at the 10th Mediterranean Research Meeting of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

Together with Shafiq Hasyim, Künkler organized the Workshop “Women’s Rights Advocacy, Islam and the Public Sphere: Comparative Perspectives by Iranian and Indonesia Activists”, sponsored by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), Jakarta, held at the Islamic Boarding School Cipasung, Java, Indonesia, February 11-16, 2007.

RECENT AND FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS:

BOOK
            Künkler, Mirjam and Julia Leininger (eds., 2009): Zur Rolle von Religion in Demokratisierungsprozessen. Comparative Study of the Role of Religious Institutions in Democratic Transition and Consolidation Processes. Schriftenreihe Politik und Religion. VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Wiesbaden.

ARTICLES

            Künkler, Mirjam and Julia Leininger (2009), “The Multi-faceted Role of Religious Actors in Democratization Processes: Empirical Evidence from Five Young Democracies” in Democratization. December 2009. A previous version of the article was presented at the Biennial Conference of the ECPR in Potsdam, September 10-13, 2009.

              Künkler, Mirjam (forthcoming), “Democracy,” Entry in the Encyclopedia of Islamic Thought, Princeton University Press.

            Künkler, Mirjam (forthcoming 2010), Book Review of Asef Bayat: “Making Islam Democratic. Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn,” in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.

            Künkler, Mirjam and Julia Leininger (2009),  “Säkularisierung” in Dieter Nohlen and Rainer-Olaf Schultze (eds.): Lexikon der Politikwissenschaft, Theorien, Methoden, Begriffe, 3. Auflage. Beck Verlag, 2009.

Künkler, Mirjam (2008), “A New Standard in the Studies of Southeast Asian Islam,” Review of Greg Fealy and Virginia Hooker (eds): Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia – A Contemporary Sourcebook. Singapore: ISEAS, 2006; in Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 2008, 1, pp. 111-113.

            Künkler, Mirjam (2008), “On the Role of Religious Movements in Democratisation Processes,” Relações Internacionais, Special Issue on Religion and Political Regimes, IPRI, Lisbon.

            Künkler, Mirjam (2008), “Zum Verhältnis Staat-Religion und der Rolle islamischer Intellektueller in der indonesischen Reformasi” in Stephanie Garling and Simon W. Fuchs (eds.): Religion in Diktatur und Demokratie – Zur Bedeutung von religiösen Werten, Praktiken und Institutionen in politischen Transformationsprozessen. Villigster Profile. Wuppertal. pp. 84-102.

            Künkler, Mirjam and Michael Meyer-Resende (2007), A Missing Link: Why Europe Should Talk About Religion when Promoting Democracy Abroad, Discussion Paper No.1, June 2007. Democracy Reporting International, Berlin.

            Künkler, Mirjam (2007), “After The Revolution is Before The Revolution” Review of Farhad Nomani and Sohrab Behdad: Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter? in Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 60, 2, pp. 213-217.

Stepan, Alfred and Mirjam Künkler (2007), “An Interview With Amien Rais,” in Journal of International Affairs, Special Issue on Religion and Statecraft, Vol. 61, 1, pp. 205-216.

              Künkler, Mirjam (2004), “Advocating Women’s Rights In The Language of Islamic Sacred Texts. The Tripartite Struggle For Women’s Rights In Iran.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 24, 2, pp. 375-392.
WORKING PAPERS

              Künkler, Mirjam, “The Special Courts of the Clergy (Dadgah-e Vizheh-ye Ruhaniyyat) and the Repression of Dissident Clergy in Iran,” presented at the Workshop Constitutionalism, the Rule of Law and the Politics of Administration in Egypt and Iran, held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Spain, May 28-29, 2009.
 
              Künkler, Mirjam and Roja Fazaeli, “Female Ulama in the Islamic Republic of Iran – Revolution and Reform,” presented at the conference Women, Leadership and Mosques: Contemporary Islamic Authority, held at the University of Oxford, October 15-16, 2009.

              Künkler, Mirjam, “The Elimination of Zones of Autonomy: Electoral Victory, but Political Defeat in Khatami’s Iran,” presented at the conference Actors, Institutions and Regime Resiliency: New Challenges to Democracy from Old Sources, held at Columbia University, October 19-20, 2008.

              Künkler, Mirjam, “Institutional Conditions For The Emergence Of Pluralist Religious Discourses in 20th century Indonesia,” presented at the workshop Law, Religion and Democracy, held at the 10th Mediterranean Research Meeting of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, March 24-27, 2009.

AWARDS:

Mirjam Künkler has received research awards and fellowships from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Henry Luce Foundation, the Institute for Social & Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), the Tokyo and Nippon Foundations (SYLFF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Columbia University, and Princeton University.