Democracy Protecting Itself from Itself?

Ebru Erdem

Studies on government in Muslim societies and in the Middle East in particular have mostly focused on authoritarianism. De søkte å svare på hvorfor autoritarisme er den mest observerte regimetypen, og hvorfor det vedvarer. Nyere arbeid har sett på rollen til valg og folkevalgte organer under autoritarisme, forklare hvorfor de eksisterer og hvilke formål de tjener (Blaydes 2008; Lyst Okar 2006). Målet med denne artikkelen er å rette søkelyset mot rettsvesenet, og til den politiske rollen til høye domstoler i muslimske samfunn med ulike nivåer av autoritarisme. Rettsvesenet og rettsprosessene i muslimske samfunn har ikke fått mye vitenskapelig oppmerksomhet. Mye av arbeidet på dette området har dreid seg om sharia. Sharia-loven, inkorporering av sharia i rettssystemer og juridiske koder i vestlig stil, konflikter mellom vestlige og sharia-inspirerte familielover, and especially the impact of the latter on women’s rights are some of the extensively studied topics concerning the judicial processes in these societies. På den andre siden, work on judiciary as a political institution in the Muslim world is scarce, notable exceptions being Moustafa (2003) and Hirschl (2004). Judiciaries may take different institutional forms, be based on different legal traditions, or vary in the level of independence they enjoy, but they are still a political institutions.Why study the judiciary in the Muslim World? Is a focus on the judiciary meaningful given the dominance of the executives in countries with authoritarian regimes? The justification for a focus on the judiciary has different dimensions. From a rational choice-institutionalist perspective: if an institution exists, there must be a reason for it, and we think that investigating the raison d’être of the judiciaries will provide interesting insights about political processes and executive strategies. From an institutional-design perspective, the shape that an institution takes2is related to the strategies of the actors negotiating over that institution, and we would like to use the observed variance in judicial institutions and powers across countries and time periods to learn about different aspects of political bargains that scholars have studied in other political realms. From a democratic development perspective, the establishment of the checks and balances is central to a functioning and sustainable democracy, and we would argue that studying the judiciary is central to understanding the prospects towards establishment of rule of law and a credible commitment to democracy (Weingast 1997).

Filed Under: EgyptUtvalgtProblemerMidtøstenmuslimsk BrorskapStudier & ForskerTyrkiaTyrkias AKP

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