Elites & representation
How legislators communicate, build careers, respond to constituents, and represent social groups.
Political scientist · Stavanger, Norway
Tevfik Murat Yildirim
Professor of Political Science
Explore my workmurat.yildirim [at] uis.no
I am Professor of Political Science in the Department of Media and Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger, Norway, where I serve as Director of Graduate Studies. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri, specializing in comparative politics and public policy.
My research lies at the intersection of political behavior, legislative politics, and identity politics. I am especially interested in whose priorities are heard, how representatives communicate, and how citizens and institutions process political information. Beyond these areas of research, I occasionally write about higher education. So far, my article-length work has been published in various journals including the American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, Journal of European Public Policy, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, Political Behavior, Political Communication, Political Science Research and Methods, and Public Opinion Quarterly, among others.
My research has been featured, discussed, or summarized for broader audiences by outlets including The Washington Post, the LSE Phelan United States Centre, The Conversation, the Roper Center, PsyPost, and the John Smith Centre. It has also been cited in policy reports produced by the World Bank, the European Union, and the Research Council of Norway.
Visiting appointments
I have held visiting appointments at Sciences Po (2024–2025), Collegio Carlo Alberto (2024 and 2026), the University of Konstanz (2023), the University of Southampton (2022), and the University of Texas at Austin (2014).
Research
Public opinion & agendas
How citizens prioritize problems, express opinions, and distribute attention across competing issues.
Identity & inequality
How gender, ethnicity, class, and place shape political voice, careers, news visibility, and representation.
Political communication
How parliamentary activity, news coverage, rhetoric, and misinformation influence political behavior.
Publications
Books and articles
My work spans political behavior, representation, public policy, identity politics, legislative studies, and political communication.
01
Origins of Public Agenda Capacity: The Role of Attention, Information and Civic Resources
02
Moral Justification for Misinformation: Evidence from a Survey Experiment During the 2024 U.S. Presidential Campaign
03
The Urban-Rural Divide in Policy Priorities across Time and Space
04
Emotions in the Aisles: Unpacking the Use of Emotive Language in the UK House of Commons
05
Electoral Systems and Gender Inequality in Political News: Analyzing the News Visibility of Members of Parliament in Norway and the UK
Featured by the John Smith Centre, Journalisten, and Forskning.no
06
The Determinants of the Media Coverage of Politicians: The Role of Parliamentary Activities
Featured by LSE Media
Complete peer-reviewed article listExpand
2026
Public Opinion Quarterly
Origins of Public Agenda Capacity: The Role of Attention, Information and Civic Resources
T. Murat Yildirim, Min Kyu Chang, and Laron K. Williams
Party Politics
District-Level Drivers of Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study in Turkey
T. Murat Yildirim
2025
Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, & Parties
Problem Importance across Time and Space: Updating the Most Important Problem Dataset
T. Murat Yildirim and Laron K. Williams
Featured by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Party Politics
Moral Justification for Misinformation: Evidence from a Survey Experiment During the 2024 U.S. Presidential Campaign
T. Murat Yildirim
Gender, Work, and Organization
Taking Parenthood Seriously: How Parental Status Predicts the Career Trajectories of Women in Politics
T. Murat Yildirim and Hande Eslen-Ziya
Political Science Research and Methods
The Urban-Rural Divide in Policy Priorities across Time and Space
T. Murat Yildirim and Knut Martin Solvig
European Journal of Political Research
Emotions in the Aisles: Unpacking the Use of Emotive Language in the UK House of Commons
T. Murat Yildirim
Political Communication
The Effects of COVID-19 Infection on Opposition to COVID-19 Policies: Evidence from the U.S. Congress
Zach Dickson and T. Murat Yildirim
Featured by PsyPost
2024
Electoral Studies
The Republic at the Centennial: A New Dataset of the Entire Population of Legislators and Their Parliamentary Activities in Turkey
T. Murat Yildirim
Policy & Politics
Patterns of Stability and Change in Media Attention in Europe
T. Murat Yildirim
2023
American Political Science Review
Electoral Systems and Gender Inequality in Political News: Analyzing the News Visibility of Members of Parliament in Norway and the UK
Gunnar Thesen and T. Murat Yildirim
Featured by the John Smith Centre, Journalisten, and Forskning.no
European Journal of Political Research
The Determinants of the Media Coverage of Politicians: The Role of Parliamentary Activities
T. Murat Yildirim, Gunnar Thesen, Will Jennings, and Erik De Vries
Featured by LSE Media
Political Behavior
Elite Influence on Attitudes about Gender Egalitarianism: Evidence from a Population-Based Survey Experiment
Alper T. Bulut and T. Murat Yildirim
Featured by The Washington Post's Monkey Cage
Journal of Public Policy
Income Inequality and Opinion Expression Gap in the American Public: An Analysis of Policy Priorities
T. Murat Yildirim and Alper T. Bulut
Featured by the LSE Phelan United States Centre
Social Politics
Gendered Perceptions of Personality Traits, Policy Stereotypes and Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties: Lessons from Turkey
T. Murat Yildirim and Alper T. Bulut
2022
British Journal of Political Science
Rethinking Women's Interests: An Inductive and Intersectional Approach to Defining Women's Policy Priorities
T. Murat Yildirim
Featured by LSE Engenderings
International Political Science Review
Agenda Dynamics and Policy Priorities in Military Regimes
T. Murat Yildirim, Alper T. Bulut, and Emel Ilter
Policy Sciences
Stability and Change in the Public's Policy Agenda: A Punctuated Equilibrium Approach
T. Murat Yildirim
Gender, Work and Organization
Perceptions of Gendered-Challenges in Academia: How Women Academics See Gender Hierarchies as Barriers to Achievement
Hande Eslen-Ziya and T. Murat Yildirim
2021
American Political Science Review
From Thin to Thick Representation: How a Female President Shapes Female Parliamentary Behavior
Michael Wahman, Nikolaos Frantzeskakis, and T. Murat Yildirim
Featured by APSA Political Science Now and The Conversation
Gender, Work and Organization
The Differential Impact of COVID-19 on the Work Conditions of Men and Women Academics during the Lockdown
T. Murat Yildirim and Hande Eslen-Ziya
Political Research Quarterly
Status Incongruity and Backlash Against Female Legislators: How Legislative Speechmaking Benefits Men, but Harms Women
T. Murat Yildirim, Gulnur Kocapinar, and Alper Ecevit
2020
Legislative Studies Quarterly
Politics of Constituency Representation and Legislative Ambition Under the Glare of Camera Lights
T. Murat Yildirim
International Political Science Review
Ethnic Violence and Substantive Representation of Minorities in Parliament
Sabri Ciftci and T. Murat Yildirim
Policy Studies Journal
Gender and Agenda Diversity: Cognitive Differences in Representatives' Information Processing
T. Murat Yildirim
2019
Journal of Legislative Studies
Abandoning Ankara: Voluntary Departures from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
T. Murat Yildirim and L. Marvin Overby
Party Politics
Staying Active and Focused? The Effect of Parliamentary Performance on Candidate Renomination and Promotion
T. Murat Yildirim, Gulnur Kocapinar, and Alper Ecevit
Party Politics
Hiding Behind the Party Brand or Currying Favor with Constituents: Why Do Representatives Engage in Different Types of Constituency-Oriented Behavior?
Sabri Ciftci and T. Murat Yildirim
2017
Journal of European Public Policy
Budgetary Change in Authoritarian and Democratic Regimes
Frank R. Baumgartner, Marcello Carammia, Derek Epp, Ben Noble, Beatriz Rey, and T. Murat Yildirim
Reprinted in Political Budgeting across Europe (Routledge, 2019)
Book & chapters
Book · 2020
Political Stability, Democracy and Agenda Dynamics in Turkey
With Alper T. Bulut · Palgrave MacmillanChapter · 2022
Gender Differences in the Prioritization of Corruption as the Most Important Problem in the US: 1939-2015
In Norms, Gender and Corruption · Edward ElgarChapter · 2022
The Role of Experts in Populist Politics: An Overview
With Liv Sunnercrantz · In Populism and Science in Europe · Palgrave MacmillanChapter · 2021
Legislative Debates in the Turkish Grand National Assembly
In The Politics of Legislative Debate · Oxford University PressChapter · 2021
Legislative Debate in the Malawi Parliament
With Nikolaos Frantzeskakis and Michael Wahman · Oxford University PressChapter · 2019
The Turkish Policy Agendas Project
With Alper T. Bulut · In Comparative Policy Agendas · Oxford University PressOpen research
Datasets built for questions across time and place.
The Most Important Problem Dataset
Content-coded responses to the Most Important Problem question from more than 800 U.S. surveys.
Turkish Political Elites Dataset
Biographical and career information for approximately 12,500 parliamentarians across the history of modern Turkey.
Policy Agendas Project: Turkey
Long-run data on front-page news, public budgets, and parliamentary activities.
Teaching
Methods, comparative politics, and political elites.
My teaching ranges from introductory comparative politics to quantitative methods and advanced courses on elites, elections, and the public.
University of Stavanger
- Quantitative Research Methods
- Comparative Politics
- Research Theory and Method
- Bachelor's Thesis
The Catholic University of Lille
- Political Elites, Elections, and the Public
- Political Geography
University of Missouri
- Comparative Political Systems
- European Democracies
Selected talks
Recent invited presentations
Politics of Media Visibility and Representation
University of Turin
When Politics Becomes the Problem
University of Milan
Anti-Political Sentiments in the US Public
Collegio Carlo Alberto
Polarized Policy Priorities
Sciences Po
On the Most Important Problem
University of Bergen
How Media Coverage Shapes Public Interest in Politicians
University of Lausanne
Beyond journals
Research for public debate.
I contribute to public-facing discussions of politics, and my work has reached readers through research features, interviews, essays, and reviews.
The Washington PostLSEThe ConversationRoper CenterPsyPostJohn Smith CentreJournalistenForskning.no