Ümit Cizre is the former Director of the Center for Modern Turkish Studies at Istanbul Sehir University, Turkey. Her research interests cover Turkey's democracy problems, civil-military relations, democratic governance of the security sector, the Turkish right, nationalism, and the political Islam-secular establishment nexus.

Burhanettin Duran is the general coordinator of Ankara-based SETA Foundation and a former professor of political science at Istanbul Sehir University, Turkey. His research focus covers Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern politics, Turkish political thought, the transformation of the Islamist intellectual tradition, and the AK Party.