Jalal Fetrati
PhD Student
Research Interests
Social Movements
, Political Sociology
Research Statement:
I gained my B.A. in sociology from the University of Tehran in 2018 and my M.S. from Illinois State University in 2021. My research interests revolve around authoritarian regimes, democratization, social movements, contentious politics, government repression, and the Middle East, especially Iran. My research agenda can be divided into two main themes. First, I am interested in how social movements overthrow dictatorships, what resistance tactics are more/less effective in bringing down tyrannies, and what factors accelerate/hamper democratization. Second, I research the methods and tactics that authoritarian regimes utilize to repress coordinated uprisings/mass mobilization and to co-opt the opposition. I am also interested in studying digital media and civil society organizations in authoritarian regimes, which have been added to the dictators' toolkit in recent decades. 
