Constitutionalism in Islamic Countries: Between Upheaval and Continuity

Author(s):  
Grote Rainer ◽  
Röder Tilmann

This book examines the question of whether something similar to an “Islamic constitutionalism” has emerged out of the political and constitutional upheaval witnessed in many parts of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Southern Asia in order to identify its defining features and to assess the challenges it poses to established concepts of constitutionalism. This book offers an integrated analysis of the constitutional experience of Islamic countries, drawing on the methods and insights of comparative constitutional law, Islamic law, international law, and legal history. European and United States experiences are used as points of reference against which the peculiar challenges, and the specific answers given to those challenges in the countries surveyed, can be assessed. Whether these concepts can be applied successfully to the often grim political and social realities of their countries provides insights into whether such a fusion can be sustained.

City, State ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 17-50
Author(s):  
Ran Hirschl

This chapter examines four introductory dimensions of the political and constitutional discourse around cities. The first is the tremendous interest in cities throughout much of the human sciences as contrasted with the silence of public law in general, and of comparative constitutional law in particular. Next, the chapter takes a look at the dominant statist stance embedded in constitutional law, in particular as it addresses sovereignty and spatial governance of the polity. A brief account of what national constitutions actually say about cities, and more significantly what they do not is then given. Finally, the chapter turns to the tendency in political discourse on collective identity to understand the “local” almost exclusively at the national or regional levels, rather than distinguishing urban interests from those of the state. Taken together, the four angles of city constitutional (non)status examined here highlight the bewildering silence of contemporary constitutional discourse with respect to cities and urbanization, as well as the strong statist outlook embedded in national constitutional orders, effectively rendering the metropolis a constitutionally non-tenable entity.


Book Reviews: Political Ideas, Hobbes's Science of Politics, Adam Ferguson: The History of Civil Society, The Works of Joseph De Maistre, Rosa Luxemburg, Marxism in Modern France, Marxist Ideology in the Contemporary World, The Moral Challenge of Communism, The Principles of Politics, Pacifism: An Historical and Sociological Study, The Pacifist Conscience, Pacifisme Et Internationalisms, Non-Violent Action: Theory and Practice, The Mafia and Politics, The Honoured Society, The Foundations of Freedom, The Real World of Democracy, The Left in Europe since 1789, Conflict in Society, The Study of Society, Communication and Political Power, Greater London: The Politics of Metropolitan Reform, Guide to Decision: The Royal Commission, Tizard, A Peril and a Hope, The Scientific Estate, Cases and Materials on Constitutional and Administrative Law, Occasional Papers on Social Administration: No, Land Values, Pensions and Public Servants, Public Sector Pensions, The Responsible Society: The Ideas of Guild Socialism, The Growth of the British Party System, The Government of Northern Ireland: Public Finance and Public Services 1921–1964, An Atlas of European Affairs, Nordic Cooperation: Conference Organised by The Nordic Council at Hasselby, 2–4 June 1965, L'Union Economique Belgo—Luxembourgeoise: Experiences Et Perspectives D'Avenir, Western European Integration, Walter Hallstein: Bibliographie Seiner Veroffent-Lichungen, Europäische Gegenwart: Schriften Zur Europapo-Litik, Columbia Essays in International Affairs, European Challenge. Tuairim Pamphlet No. 11, The Uneasy Entente, The European Idea, Atomic Energy Policy in France under the Fourth Republic, Private Interest and Public Policy, Verbände Und Gesetzgebung, Wohin Treibt Die Bundesrepublik?, The Germans and their Modern History, Wirtschaft Und Politik in Deutschland, Demogratic Parties in the Low Countries and Germany, The Political Vocation, Private Power and American Democracy, The National Guard in Politics, Envoy Extraordinary, Nehru: A Contemporary's Estimate, The Philosophy of Mr. Nehru, Nehru: The Years of Power, Apprentice to Power: India, 1904–1908, Dawn of Renascent India, The Congress Ideology and Programme, 1920–47, South Asian Affairs, Number Two: The Movement for National Freedom in India, The Political Philosophy of M. N. Roy, Sarojini Naidu: A Biography, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (1884–1911), Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict, Gandhi and the Nuclear Age, Research on the Bureaucracy of Pakistan, Political Development in Pakistan, Buddhism or Communism, Religion and Politics in Burma, Communism in Africa, African Powder Keg, The Political Awakening of Africa, Pan-Africanism and East African Integration, Britain and the Commonwealth, Governments of the Commonwealth, Commonwealth for a Colour-Blind World, Unscrambling an Empire, A Decade of the Commonwealth, 1955–1964, The Establishment of the Department of Trade: A Case-Study in Administrative Organization, Administrative Questions and Political Answers, Planning and Forecasting in New Zealand, Decisions: Case Studies in Australian Administration, Economic Development, Politics of the Developing Nations, The Rise and Fall of Western Colonialism, The Political Basis of Economic Development, Political Oppositions in Western Democracies, Mathematics and Politics, The New Utopians, Symbols of American Community 1735–1775, The Case of Richard Sorge, An Instance of Treason, The Roots of Appeasement, Silesia, Yesterday and Today, Teuton and Slav, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans, The Reluctant Ally, Rumania: Russia's Dissident Ally, The New Eastern Europe, Problems of National Strategy, Decision-Making for Deffnce, International Political Communication, Propaganda and the Cold War, The Effect of Independence on Treaties, United Nations and Domestic Jurisdiction, Cambridge Essays in International Law, The Inductive Approach to International Law, Politics and Power, Eine Welt Oder Keine?, The Dynamics of International Organization: The Making of World Order, International Behaviour: A Social-Psychological Analysis, Diplomatic Investigations, Theory and the International System, Annihilation and Utopia, The State of War, Nationalism Old and New, Dimensions Du Nationalisme, Protest in Tokyo: The Security Treaty Crisis of 1960, Soviet Strategies in South-East Asia, Defeating Communist Insurgency, towards Peace in Indo-China, South Vietnam: Nation under Stress, Communism in North Vietnam, Vietnam: History, Documents and Opinions on a Major World Crisis, Vietnam and the United States, Thailand and the Struggle for South-East Asia, Thailand and the United States, South-East Asia's Second Front, South Asia, International Economic Integration, Communist Economic Challenge, The Third World, The Economics of Competitive Coexistence, U.S, The Western Hemisphere Idea: Its Rise and Decline, American Support of Free Elections Abroad, The United States and Latin American Wars 1932–1942, The Unwritten Alliance, The Pan-American Federation of Labor, A Latin American Common Market?, Proceedings of a Seminar on Commonwealth Responsibilities for Security in the Indo-Pacific Region. Australian Institute of International Affairs and the Australian National University Defence Studies Project, The Anzus Treaty Alliance, Australian Policies and Attitudes Towards China, World Politics in the General Assembly, The United Nations in the Balance, United Nations: Then and now, The Glasshouse: The United Nations in Action, The Trauma of Decolonization: The Dutch and West New Guinea, De L'Impérialisme À La Décolonisation, Self-Determination Revisited in the Era of Decolonisation, The Elephants and the Grass, Afro-Asia and Non-Alignment

1967 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-289
Author(s):  
Michael Levin ◽  
J. W. N. Watkins ◽  
A. S. Skinner ◽  
Alan Ryan ◽  
John Plamenatz ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Kamali Mohammad Hashim

This chapter begins with a brief characterization of Islamic constitutional law and its underdeveloped status as compared with other branches of Islamic law. It then highlights salient differences between the Islamic and Western approaches to constitutional law and briefly discusses Islam and secularism. The next section provides a general characterization of the Islamic system of rule under four sub-headings. The first of these defines government in Islam as a trust (amānah); the second describes it as a limited and thus non-totalitarian government; the third addresses the Islamic system of rule as a qualified democracy; and the last characterizes it as a civilian not a theocratic system of government. The final section summarizes the main results of the preceding analysis and offers some tentative conclusions on the relationship between Islamic government and democratic constitutionalism.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rivka Weill

This is yet another manuscript by one of the most interesting and prolific American constitutional law professors that the Critical Legal Studies movement has produced. Mark Tushnet has written extensively and influentially in the fields of both American and comparative constitutional law. He is a known expert on twentieth century American legal history, bringing this expertise to bear in writing his ambitious and most recent book, The Rights Revolution in the Twentieth Century.This review of an early draft of the book will consist of three parts. The first portrays Tushnet's descriptive enterprise in a nutshell. The second discusses the historical dimensions of Tushnet's work. The last evaluates its contribution to legal theory along the lines suggested by Alon Harel.


Author(s):  
María Luz Martínez Alarcón

The number of aforados has been discussed in recent times in Spain. Most authors, after saying that this procedural exception exists only exceptionably in the Comparative Constitucional Law, request a substantial decrease of its figure in our country. However, this research of Comparative Constitutional Law reveals that the aforamiento is usual in relation to the Head of State and the Government members in the European constitutionalism. By contrast, the parliamentary aforamiento is an exceptional situation. Anyway, the Comparative Constitutional Law, although useful, should not be decisive in order to take decision about the future of this privilege in our country. In this regard, it is absolutely necessary to take into account its objectives and the causational and proportionately relationship between the adopted measure (aforamiento)and the achievement of those objectives in the political, institutional and social context of the specific country. And the truth is that the arguments to justify this institution, an exception to the principle of equality, are certainly weak.El número de aforados en nuestro país ha sido objeto de una fuerte polémica en los últimos tiempos en España. La mayoría, tras afirmar que esta institución se prevé de forma absolutamente excepcional en los países con los que compartimos una tradición jurídica común, solicita una reducción sustancial de esta cifra. Sin embargo, este análisis de derecho constitucional comparado revela que el aforamiento es una práctica habitual con relación a los Jefes de Estado (en el marco de una responsabilidad, eso sí, muy limitada) y a los miembros de Gobierno en el constitucionalismo europeo. Sí que es excepcional, sin embargo, el aforamiento parlamentario. En todo caso, el recurso al derecho comparado, aunque útil, no debe ser el elemento decisivo en la decisión sobre el futuro de esta institución en nuestro país. En este sentido resulta inexcusable tomar en consideración los fines pretendidos por la misma y la relación de causalidad y proporcionalidad existente entre su previsión y la consecución de dichos fines en el marco político, institucional y social del país de referencia en el que se inserta. Y lo cierto es que los fundamentos para justificar su presencia en nuestro país son un tanto endebles para conducir, como conducen, a limitar el principio de igualdad ante la ley.


2021 ◽  
pp. 373-392
Author(s):  
Muna Ndulo

This chapter illustrates the role of international and foreign law in domestic constitutional law. Through the case analysis of South Africa (a post conflict state) and the United States (often seen as a country that is not too friendly to international and foreign legal systems), it discusses the role of international and foreign law in reconciling the regional development of the rule of law in a country, by working closely together with domestic constitutional law. The domestic courts both in the United States and South Africa, whenever they deem it appropriate, do consider international and foreign law in the resolution of disputes before them. The conditions under which each jurisdiction may resort to foreign or international law, as well as the criteria used for taking them into consideration, vary. However, most importantly, this practice should be encouraged as it promotes the uniform interpretation of international law and the progressive advancement of norms world-wide, which are aspects that are especially important in the field of human rights.


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