Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, Ph.D.

Professor of Political Science
School of Natural and Social Sciences

Office: 1027 SS Building
Tel: (914) 251-6610
Fax: 251-6603
Email: zehra.arat@purchase.edu

Education

• B.A., 1979, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
• M.A., 1983, Binghamton University, SUNY
• Ph.D., 1985, Binghamton University, SUNY

Positions

• Assistant Professor, 1984-89, Iona College
• Assistant Professor, 1989-93, Purchase College, SUNY
• Associate Professor, 1993-97, Purchase College, SUNY
• Professor, 1997-present, Purchase College, SUNY
  (Juanita and Joseph Leff Distinguished Professor, 2006-08)

Courses Taught

Globalization, Development, and Poverty
Gender Politics and Islam
Women’s Rights as Human Rights
Women in Developing Countries
Money, Power and Democracy
Culture and Politics in Islam
Political Protest and Ideologies
Governments and Politics Worldwide

Areas of Expertise

Democracy; human rights; politics in developing countries; women's rights; women and development.

Publications

Books:

Democracy and Human Rights in Developing Countries. Authors Guild Backprint.com edition. (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc, 2003). Originally published by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 1991.

Deconstructing Images of “The Turkish Woman”.  Editor. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe.  Co-edited with George Andreopoulos and Peter Juviler. New York: Kumarian Press, 2006.

Human Rights Worldwide: A Reference Handbook.  Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006.

Human Rights in Turkey. Editor. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, April 2007.

insan Haklarý ve Demokrasi Üzerine Tezler (Theses on Human Rights and Democracy).  Istanbul: Boyut Yayýnlarý, 2007. (forthcoming)

Recent Journal Articles

“Forging a Global Culture of Human Rights: Origins and Prospects of the International Bill of Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 28:2 (May 2006): 416-437.

“Human Rights and Globalization: Is the Shrinking World Expanding Rights?”  Human Rights & Human Welfare 5 (2005): 137-146.

Selected Awards and Recognitions

The State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, May 2006.

Juanita and Joseph Leff Distinguished Professor, Senior Faculty Research Award, Purchase College, 2006-2008.

Certificate of Recognition, granted by the Purchase College Chapter of the United University Professionals, for outstanding and sustained commitment to the advancement of public higher education and to the students of the State University of New York (2005).

Sixth Annual Woman of Distinction Award, granted by Daughters of Atatürk to outstanding Turkish-American woman who is shaping the community she lives in, 2004.

Student Union Award for Outstanding Service to the College Community, Purchase College, SUNY, 1992. 

Pi Sigma Alpha, the best paper award, Northeastern Political Science Association, Providence, 1988.

Francesco Kjellberg Award for best paper presented by a young scholar, IPSA, the Fourteenth World Congress, Washington, D.C., 1988.

Nomination for the Best Dissertation Award, SUNY, 1985.

Junior Fellow, The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government (1982-1983).

Jane Todd Fellowship, SUNY Doctoral Council (1982-1983). 

Recent Grants

Fellowship, United States Institute of Peace to study “human rights discourse and practices in Turkey since the 1920s,” ($50,000), 2006-2007.

Fellowship, International Research Exchange Board and the National Endowment for the Humanities, to conduct research on human rights in Turkey, ($20,000), 2003-2004.

Current Editorial and Executive Board Membership

Chair. International Political Science Association, Research Committee on Human Rights (since July 2006).

Editorial Board. Zeitschrift für Menschenrechte (Journal of Human Rights) (since 2006).

Series Editor.  Book Series on Human Rights. State University of New York Press (since 2003).

Editorial Board.  Human Rights and Human Welfare: An International Review of Books and Other Publications. An on-line journal. (Since 2003).

Co-Chair, Columbia University Human Rights Seminar (since 2003).

Editorial Board. International Feminist Journal of Politics (since 2002).