Dr Hanifi Baris

Biography

Dr Baris studied law for his undergraduate degree at Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and sociology for his graduate degree in Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS) at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul, South Korea. He studied constitutional law and political theory as a PhD student at the Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law (CISRUL) at the University of Aberdeen. In 2019, Dr Baris was awarded the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship for his research project Council democracy as a mode of autonomy: a comparative approach, enabling him to study Indigenous democratic constituions in Mexico and Kurdistan, again at CISRUL. Prior to his current position, Dr Baris was awarded teaching fellowships in the School of Law and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen. Dr Baris also worked at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a legislative consultant and practiced law in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, with a focus on human rights law. 

Research Overview

Dr Baris’ current research focuses on experiments of council democracy launched by Kurdish movements in Turkey and Syria, and two indigenous movements, the Zapatistas and the town of Cheran, in Mexico. Despite important differences, according to Dr Baris, what appears to be common to these movements is that they invoke ancestral/communal forms of sovereignty but make no claim to independence. On the contrary, they seek to reconcile their aspirations with the Turkish, Syrian and Mexican constitutions. Nevertheless, the councils and assemblies set up by these movements appear to claim ultimate authority over public affairs within territories that constitute residential communities such as villages, neighbourhoods, towns and cities. Therefore, autonomy based on councils appears to be at odds with the principles of parliamentary sovereignty.

Scholars have defined these experiments as stateless democracy and/or radical democracy. In this project, Dr Baris considers further aspects of the politics of these movements: where did these models of autonomy come from? Do they introduce novel forms of government or are they projections of ancient and ancestral forms of self-rule? What implications do these models have with regard to autonomy and sovereignty? How can we reconcile them with the constitutions of the nation-states that host these movements? What appear to be their strengths and weaknesses in practice?

Council democracy in these cases is a form of government alternative to representative democracy: citizens participate in political decision-making processes directly via convening in local councils and assemblies. Dr Baris describes these experiments as council autonomy and aims to compare them with one another as well as with the council system outlined theoretically by Hannah Arendt and her predecessors, including Rosa Luxemburg and Judah Leon Magnes. 

Grants

The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship 

Awards

Best article award in Kurdish political studies, first prize, University of Central Florida. For following article: Hamelink, Wendy and Hanifi Baris. 2014. “Dengbêjs on borderlands: borders and the state as seen through the eyes of Kurdish singer-poets”, Kurdish Studies 2 (1): 34-60.

Publications

Book  

Baris, Hanifi. 2021. The Kurdish Model of Political Community: A Vision of National Liberation Defiant of the Nation-State. Lanham: Bloomsbury Publishing 

Peer reviewed articles and book chapters

Baris, Hanifi. Forthcoming (post-review). “Indigenous Democracies and Decolonising Hannah Arendt's Council Democracy”, in Interdisciplinary Arendt, edited by Dr Helen Lynch and Prof Michael Brown. London: Routledge

Baris, Hanifi. 2023. “Kuzey Kürdistan’daki Kayyım Düzeni Bağlamında Temsili Demokrasi ile Doğrudan Demokrasi Arasındaki Çekişme”. In Kürtler ve Cumhuriyet, edited by Kübra Sağır, Çağrı Kurt, Behzat Hiroğlu, Ayhan Işık, Gülay Kılıçaslan, pp. 497-505. Ankara: Dipnot Yayınları

Baris, Hanifi., Sunca J. Y., and Aslan A. 2023. “A century of republican practices and Kurdish alter-politics”, in European Union – Turkey Civic Commission Report-1. Report submitted to the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on 7 December 2023.

Baris, Hanifi. 2022. “Democratic Innovations in Mexico and Kurdistan: The Revival of Assemblies and Councils as Traditional Democratic Institutions”, Kurdish Studies, 10 (2): pp. 233-277.

--- 2021. “Sovereignty, Autonomy and Citizenship in the Kurdish Model of Political Community”; in Engaging Authority: Citizenship and Political Community, edited by Trevor Stack and Rose Luminiello. London: Bloomsbury Publishing

--- 2020a. “Competing Visions of Political Community in the Middle East: The Kurdish Model as an Alternative to Theocracy and Nationalism.” Atâtôt: Human Rights Journal of the State University of Goias 1 (2): 7–24.

--- 2020b. “Radical Democracy and Self-Governance in Kurdistan.” E-International Relations. https://www.e-ir.info/2020/12/15/radical-democracy-and-self-governance-in-kurdistan/.

Hamelink, W. & H. Baris. 2020. “Kürt Halk Ozanları Dengbêjlerin Gözünden Sınırlar ve Devlet.” In Kürt Çalışmaları Bahar Akademisi -1, edited by Güllistan Yarkın, 51–88. İstanbul: İsmail Beşikçi Vakfı.

Baris, Hanifi. 2016. “The Kurds: A history of ‘deliberate and reactive state-lessness’”; in Conflict, Insecurity and Mobility, edited by Ibrahim Sirkeci, Jeffrey H. Cohen, Pinar Yazgan; pp. 89-101. London: Transnational Press

Hamelink, A.W. and H. Baris. 2014. “Dengbêjs on borderlands. Borders and the state as seen through the eyes of Kurdish singer-poets”; in Kurdish Studies Journal, 2:1, 39-71.

Hamelink, A.W. and H. Baris. 2014. “Dengbêj Li Ser Sînoran: Sînor û Dewlet Bi Nêrîna Kilambêjên Kurd.”, Şehmuz Kurt û Ziyaddin Yıldırımçakar. Wêjê û  Rexne, Vol. 3: 173–200.

Op-Eds and interviews in magazines and newspapers

Barış, Hanifi. 2025. “Kayyum rejimi: Kalpazan demokrasi”, in Yeni Özgür Politika. June 2, 2025.

Barış, Hanifi. 2024. “Otoriter Demokrasiden Kalpazan Demokrasiye Kayyım Rejimi.” Artı Gerçek. May 18, 2024.

London Media Defence Interview: “Partners: Hanifi Baris of TOHAV on Defending Press Freedom in Turkey”, November 9, 2020.

 Conference proceedings

Hamelink, A.W. & H. Baris. 2015. “Kürt müziği artık kulağımızdan silinmiyor. Sasun Ermenilerinin müzikal hafızası.” Müslümanlaştırılmış Ermeniler. İstanbul: Hrant Dink Vakfı.