Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 Arab courts in comparative perspective
- 2 The creation and operation of the modern Egyptian legal system, 1876–1937
- 3 Egyptian courts., 1937–1971: centralization, authoritarianism, and socialism
- 4 Egyptian courts, 1971–1996: the reemergence of liberal legality
- 5 Legal reform in the Arab states of the Gulf
- 6 The legal system and the rule of law in Kuwait and Qatar
- 7 Popular uses of the courts
- 8 Business and the courts
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 Arab courts in comparative perspective
- 2 The creation and operation of the modern Egyptian legal system, 1876–1937
- 3 Egyptian courts., 1937–1971: centralization, authoritarianism, and socialism
- 4 Egyptian courts, 1971–1996: the reemergence of liberal legality
- 5 Legal reform in the Arab states of the Gulf
- 6 The legal system and the rule of law in Kuwait and Qatar
- 7 Popular uses of the courts
- 8 Business and the courts
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In 1995, the Palestinian authority in Gaza and Jericho took its first unambiguous step in the direction of statehood by creating State Security Courts for cases of political violence (especially against Israeli targets). At the same time an assortment of Islamist movements in neighboring Egypt were engaged in a violent struggle with state authorities, with the movements claiming that the failure to implement the Islamic shari'a rendered the regime illegitimate. The regime responded by using all tools available, including, most controversially, military courts to try civilians.
Courts and legal systems have been the focus of intense political struggles in the Arab world, in some locations for over a century. Legal issues are, as everywhere, technical and arcane at times, but just as often they are closely connected to the definition and operation of political power and political community. Residents of the Arab world encounter courts and the legal system in many of their affairs; in fact, they seek out the courts at surprisingly high rates.
This study concerns the role of courts in social and political life in the Arab world. Egypt receives the major focus, but I have also conducted primary research in the Gulf and have included references to other Arab cases in order to cast the argument as widely as possible.
In transliterating Arabic names and terms, I have endeavored above all to be consistent. In general I follow the system suggested by the International Journal of Middle East Studies except that I have not used any diacritical marks. Consistency does have its costs, one of which is that several of the people mentioned may barely recognize their own names.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Rule of Law in the Arab WorldCourts in Egypt and the Gulf, pp. xi - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997