Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Vulnerable Sovereign, Ronald A. Brand
The Vulnerable Sovereign, Ronald A. Brand
Articles
The connection between sovereignty and law is fundamental for both domestic (internal sovereignty) and the international (external sovereignty) purposes. As the dominant forms of government have evolved over time, so has the way in which we think about sovereignty. Consideration of the historical evolution of the concept of sovereignty offers insight into how we think of sovereignty today. A term that was born to represent the relationship between the governor and the governed has become a term that is used to represent the relationships between and among states in the global legal order. This article traces the history of the …
Constitutional Provisions Making Sharia “A” Or “The” Chief Source Of Legislation: Where Did They Come From? What Do They Mean? Do They Matter?, Clark B. Lombardi
Constitutional Provisions Making Sharia “A” Or “The” Chief Source Of Legislation: Where Did They Come From? What Do They Mean? Do They Matter?, Clark B. Lombardi
Articles
The constitutions of many Arab countries provide that Islamic law ("shari'a") is a "source" of national law. Indeed, some make shari'a norms "a chief source," of state law. Other stronger provisions even declare them to be "the chief source" or "the only source" of legislation. There has been surprisingly little historical scholarship about these clauses, either in Arabic or in Western languages. There has also been almost no systematic comparative scholarship looking at the way that these clauses have been interpreted in different countries. In both Western scholarship and in popular Arab discourse one finds considerable confusion about where these …
Designing Islamic Constitutions: Past Trends And Options For A Democratic Future, Clark B. Lombardi
Designing Islamic Constitutions: Past Trends And Options For A Democratic Future, Clark B. Lombardi
Articles
In recent years a growing number of countries have adopted constitutional provisions requiring that state law respect Islamic law (sharia). Muslims today are deeply divided, however, about what types of state action are consistent with sharia. Thus, the impact of a "Sharia Guarantee Clause" depends to a large degree on questions of constitutional design -- on who is given the power to interpret and apply the provision and on what procedures that they follow when making their decisions. This article explores the trends that gave rise to SGCs and provides a history of their incorporation into national constitutions. It then …
The Truth About Haiti, Irwin P. Stotzky
Minority Rights, Minority Wrongs, Elena Baylis
Minority Rights, Minority Wrongs, Elena Baylis
Articles
Many of the new democracies established in the last twenty years are severely ethnically divided, with numerous minority groups, languages, and religions. As part of the process of democratization, there has also been an explosion of “national human rights institutions,” that is, independent government agencies whose purpose is to promote enforcement of human rights. But despite the significance of minority concerns to the stability and success of these new democracies, and despite the relevance of minority rights to the mandates of national human rights institutions, a surprisingly limited number of national human rights institutions have directed programs and resources to …
Establishing Deliberative Democracy: Moving From Misery To Poverty With Dignity, Irwin P. Stotzky
Establishing Deliberative Democracy: Moving From Misery To Poverty With Dignity, Irwin P. Stotzky
Articles
No abstract provided.