Burak Tan is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

He specializes in Political Theory, with a focus on democratic theory and critical theory. His research explores how authoritarian governments appeal to citizens and shore up popular support, through the case of contemporary Turkey. Drawing from ordinary language philosophy, hermeneutics, and in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, he catalogues and analyzes the narratives of identity and fantasies of attachment mobilized by the regime, situating the Turkish case within the globally rising neo-authoritarian politics.

Burak’s work has been supported by the Global Relations Forum (Istanbul) and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (University of Chicago). He has been a visiting fellow at Koç University’s Center for Research on Globalization, Peace, and Democratic Governance, and won the The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award in 2023.

He holds an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago’s MAPSS program, and an MA in Political Science from the Department of Political Science. In these, he works on authoritarian political rhetoric and logic of exclusion in Turkey; and revisits the foundation of the Republic to excavate an anti-imperialist critique of Western representative institutions. Prior to coming to Chicago, he received dual BAs in Political Science and Sociology from Boğaziçi University in Turkey.