Suchergebnisse

This book brings together, for the first time, independent and highly respected lawyers and jurists from both sides of this century-old conflict, to identify and assess areas of common interest. As violence diminishes in favour of negotiation and compromise, all issues covered by the ongoing discussions will be determined by emerging rule of law. The book contains original contributions from an experienced team of Palestinian and Isrealic lawyers and scholars in the field and covers a range of strategic issues, including history and law, key international treaties, the domestic dimensions of the peace process, water arrangements, economic issues, and the legal institutions which are being created and must adapt to the new scene. An important feature of the book is that it succeeds in showing that the traditional opposition os Israeli and Arab views may be giving way to a common informed reflection on modes of coexistence primarily determined by law. Contributers include Raja Shehadeh, Ruth Gavison, Eyal Benvenisti, Eugene Cotran, David Kretzmer, Anis Al-Qasem, Celia Fassberg, Sharif Elmusa, Mahmud El Jaafari, Eran Feitelson, Ruth Levush, and Mona Rishmawi

This is the first comprehensive study of the life and works of Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr - an Iraqi scholar who made an important contribution to the renewal of Islamic law and politics in the contemporary Middle East. Executed in 1980, Sadr was the most articulate thinker and a major political actor in the revival of Shi'i learning, which placed Najaf in Southern Iraq at its centre. Dr Chibli Mallat examines the intellectual development of Sadr and his companions who included Ruhullah al-Khumaini and assesses Sadr's innovative approaches to the study of law, economics and banking. The author convincingly demonstrates how Sadr's ideas and activities were influential in the rise of political Islam across the Middle East and played an important part in the Iranian revolution of 1979

Professor Mallat delivered the Third Annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Comparative Law in 2004 and this article is based on his remarks. The article is included in the inaugural volume of CICLOPs that collects the first six Bernstein lectures. Strong moments in constitution-making often result from traumas; the breakthroughs by the European Union and constitutional achievements by both Iraq and Afghanistan stand as modern examples. The traumas of Europe, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been typified by violent conflict over the past century, including two World Wars, the Cold War, and the 'war on terrorism'. Efforts and successes at constructing 21st Century constitutions can largely be seen as a response to these 20th Century traumas. Looking beyond the black-letter law of the European, Afghani, and Iraqi constitutions, emerging patterns in constitution making are to be found, including the recent international drive behind constitutions and the classical Montesquieuian separation of powers. Though these are two major driving forces in constitutional design, three 'acid tests' are not only heavily considered in the creation of these constitutions, but they are also heavily determinative in the success of any given constitution: religion, federalism, and, most importantly, the presidency. By analyzing these considerations and the acid tests in the context of the European Union, Iraq, and Afghanistan, their overwhelming importance and the difficulties in negotiating each within varied political climates becomes apparent. The hope is that these attempts and successes at constitutional design can serve as examples for other regions suffering from intense and prolonged violent turmoil, such as the successful resolution of the Northern Ireland problem or the as yet resolved Arab-Israeli conflict concerning Palestine. Further, these shifts in constitutional design over the past century act as signposts, pointing in the direction of change as the process and needs of constitutional design evolves from old concerns of self-contained internal affairs to a new modern concern of internationalism and, eventually, to a state of depoliticisation of constitutions.

Resumé L'Europe peut-elle renforcer l'interlocuteur démocratique au sein des sociétés moyen-orientales ?