Matt Buehler

Matt Buehler is Associate Professor and Chair of Middle East Studies at the University of Tennessee, with joint appointment in the Department of Political Science. As a Senior Global Security Fellow at the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy, he researches democratization, authoritarianism, and Islamist movements in North Africa and the Middle East, drawing on extensive fieldwork and Arabic-language expertise.

His research focuses on:

• Authoritarian resilience and democratization processes
• Islamist party politics and coalition-building
• Migration dynamics and border security policies
• Public opinion research in Arab societies
• Nuclear nonproliferation attitudes

Dr. Buehler's scholarly contributions include the award-winning book Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa (Syracuse University Press, 2018), which received the SERMEISS Book Award. His publications span prominent journals including International Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, and Mediterranean Politics.

As an editor of Mediterranean Politics and Edinburgh Studies of the Maghreb, he actively shapes scholarly discourse on regional politics. His research combines rigorous fieldwork with innovative survey methodologies to analyze political behavior in authoritarian contexts.