Baris Cayli Messina

Dr Baris Cayli Messina is a comparative-historical sociologist and social and political theorist studying power, political violence, authoritarianism, repression, and collective resistance. His research examines how political and social orders produce and sustain themselves through violence, moralisation, criminalisation, and marginalisation, and how communities resist these processes across diverse social and political contexts from modern history to the present. He is the author of four books: Violence and Militants: From Ottoman Rebellions to Jihadist Organizations (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019); A Slow Revolution: The Betrayal of Sicilians and Their War on the Mafia (Cornell University Press, 2026); The Autocrat's Playbook: How Authoritarians Weaponize Morality and Destroy Societies (University of California Press, forthcoming 2027); and Queer Under Siege: How Global Repression Works and How We Resist (Temple University Press, forthcoming 2027).

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