He received his PhD from the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University. Kuru is the author of Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge University Press), which was given the distinguished book award from the SSSR and translated into Turkish and Arabic. He is also the co-editor (with Alfred Stepan) of Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey (Columbia University Press). His recent publications include “Authoritarianism and Democracy in Muslim Countries: Rentier States and Regional Diffusion,” Political Science Quarterly (Fall 2014).