Constitutionalism in Islamic Countries: Between Upheaval and Continuity

Constitutionalism in Islamic Countries: Between Upheaval and Continuity 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 will provide invaluable insights into whether such a fusion can be sustained, and may even pave the way for a new era of constitutionalism in Islamic countries.

• Provides an examination of the relationship between Islam and certain key elements of modern constitutionalism in the Western tradition from both a historical and a contemporary perspective
• Undertakes a comprehensive comparative survey of the scope, meaning and application of certain clauses, which define the role of Islam and the Sharia within a number of carefully selected constitutions in order to determine to what extent, if any, they have effectively shaped the operation of the constitutional systems of their respective countries
• Provides country-specific case studies on the relationship between Islam on the one hand and the rule of law and human rights on the other, within contemporary Islamic societies
• Includes a section to the so-called emerging constitutions, which are often born in times of crisis, and in response to a total or partial breakdown of the state. These constitutions have been drafted or are being drafted with a varying degree of support and assistance from the international community, frequently resulting in a fusion of modern ideas of constitutional government and moderate Islamist concepts