Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T22:35:13.837Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Overcoming essentialisation: a comparative study of ‘living-together’ conceptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

Emma Patrignani*
Affiliation:
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Lapland E-mail: emma.patrignani@ulapland.fi.

Abstract

This paper compares two judgments of constitutional courts (French and German) assessing the constitutionality of statutes concerning veil-wearing and focuses on the underlying conceptions of ‘living together’. This means that what is actually compared is the self-understanding of the respective majority in the two societies as stated in the decisions. This is done by disassembling the concept of ‘living together’ into three elements: the notion of the individual, the meaning of belonging to the national community and the space accorded to religion in public. Each section of this paper examines one of these elements as they are entailed in the judgments and positions them critically within the respective legal cultural and historical contexts. The main aim of this paper is methodological in nature and is namely to show how comparative legal cultural studies can avoid essentialisation and rather highlight the complexity of every cultural context.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amir-Moazami, Schirin (2007) Politisierte Religion: Der Kopftuchstreit in Deutschland und Frankreich [Politicised Religion: The Headscarf Debate in Germany and France]. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.Google Scholar
Aristotle, (1912/2009) The Politics of Aristotle: A Treatise on Government, trans. Ellis, W.. Auckland: The Floating Press.Google Scholar
Baer, Susanne and Wrase, Michael (2005) ‘Staatliche Neutralität und Toleranz in der “christlich-abendländischen Wertewelt”’ [‘State Neutrality and Tolerance in the “Christian and Western Worldview”’], Die Öffentliche Verwaltung 6: 243252.Google Scholar
Baubérot, Jean (2012) La laïcité falsifiée [Falsified Laicity]. Paris: Éditions La Découverte.Google Scholar
Baubérot, Jean (2013) Histoire de la Laïcité en France [History of Laicity in France], 6th edn. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Beaucamp, Guy and Beaucamp, Jakob (2015) ‘In dubio pro libertate: Überlegungen zur Kopftuch- und Burkaverbotsdebatte’ [‘In dubio pro libertate: Reflections on the Debate about the Banning of Headscarf and Burqa’], Die Öffentliche Verwaltung 5: 174183.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Seyla (2010) ‘The Return of Political Theology: The Scarf Affair in Comparative Constitutional Perspective in France, Germany and Turkey’, Philosophy & Social Criticism 36: 451471.Google Scholar
Benz, Arthur (2008) Der moderne Staat: Grundlagen der politologischen Analyse [The Modern State: Principles of the Politological Analysis]. Munich: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, Pierre (1998) La France imaginée [Imagined France]. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, Pierre (2004) ‘Entre universalisme et multiculturalisme: le modèle français dans la théorie politique contemporaine’ [‘Between Universalism and Multiculturalism: The French Model in the Contemporary Political Theory’] in Dieckhoff, Alain (ed.) La constellation des appartenances – Nationalisme, libéralisme et pluralisme [Constellation of Belongings – Nationalism, Liberalism and Pluralism]. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, 255280.Google Scholar
Böckenförde, Ernst-Wolfgang (1987) ‘Zur Eröffnung’ [‘Introduction’] in Böckenförde, Ernst-Wolfgang and Spaemann, Robert (eds.) Menschenrechte und Menschenwürde: Historische Voraussetzungen, Säkulare Gestalt, Christliches Verständnis [Human Rights and Human Dignity: Historical Preconditions, Secular Form, Christian Understanding]. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.Google Scholar
Böckenförde, Ernst-Wolgang (2001) Vom Wandel des Menschenbildes im Recht [About the Changing of the Image of Human Beings in Law]. Münster: Rhema.Google Scholar
Bowen, John R. (2010) Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers (1992) Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Buisson, Ferdinand (1882) Dictionnaire de pédagogie et d'instruction primaire [Dictionary of Pedagogy and of Primary Education], vol. 1/2. Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
Champeil-desplats, Véronique (2012) ‘Laicité et liberté religieuse en France: aux sources de la loi interdisant la dissimulation intégrale du visage dans l’éspace public’ [‘Laicity and Religious Freedom in France: At the Sources of the Statute Forbidding the Integral Covering of the Face in Public Spaces’], Revista Derecho del Estado 20: 5172.Google Scholar
Daly, Eoin (2013) ‘Political Liberalism and French National Identity in the Wake of the Face-Veiling Law’, International Journal of Law in Context 9(3): 366385.Google Scholar
Dietze, Gabriele (2009) ‘Okzidentalismuskritik: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer Forschungsperspektivierung’ [‘Occidentalism Critique: Possibilities and Limits of a Research Perspectivation’] in Dietze, Gabriele, Brunner, Claudia and Wenzel, Edith (eds.) Kritik des Okzidentalismus: Transdisziplinäre Beiträge zu (Neo-)Orientalismus und Geschlecht [Occidentalism's Critique: Transdisciplinary Contributions to (Neo-)Orientalism and Gender]. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2354.Google Scholar
Dieu, Frédéric (2010) ‘Le droit de dévisager et l'obligation d'etre dévisagé: vers une moralisation de l'espace public?’ [‘The Right to Unveil and the Obligation to Be Unveiled: Towards a Moralisation of Public Space?’], La Semaine Juridique Administrations et Collectivités territoriales 48: 3542.Google Scholar
Dreier, Horst (2011) ‘Säkularisierung des Staates am Beispiel der Religionsfreiheit’ [‘Secularisation of the State Using the Example of Religious Freedom’], Rechtsgeschichte 19: 7286.Google Scholar
Dumont, Luis (1991) Homo Aequalis, II – L'idéologie allemande: France-Allemagne et retour [Homo Aequalis, II – The German Ideology: France-Germany and Back]. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Dupont, Luis (2011) ‘Cultural Diversity and Modernity: The Conditions of the Vivre Ensemble’ in Gagnon, Alain-G., Lecours, André and Nootens, Geneviève (eds.) Contemporary Majority Nationalism. Montreal: MQUP, 80100.Google Scholar
Dürig, Günter (2003) Grundgesetz Sonderdruck: Kommentierung der Artikel 1 und 2 Grundgesetz [Basic Law Excerpt: Comment to the Article 1 and 2 of the Basic Law]. Munich: C.H. Beck.Google Scholar
Fatin-Rouge Stéfanini, Marthe and Philippe, Xavier (2011) ‘Le Conseil Constitutionnel face à la loi anti-burqua: entre garantie des droits fondamentaux, sauvegarde de l'ordre public et stratégie politique’ [‘The Constitutional Council and the Anti-Burqa Statute: Among Guarantee of Fundamental Rights, Safeguard of Public Order and Political Strategy’], Revue francaise de droit constitutionnel 87(3): 548560.Google Scholar
Frankenberg, Günter (2014) ‘The Innocence of Method – Unveiled: Comparison as an Ethical and Political Act’, Journal of Comparative Law 9(2): 222258.Google Scholar
Ganz, Sarah (2008) Das Tragen religiöser Symbole und Kleidung in der öffentlichen Schulen in Deutschland, Frankreich und England: Eine rechtsvergleichende Untersuchung unter Berücksichtigung der EMRK [The Wearing of Religious Symbols and Clothing in Public Schools in Germany, France and England: A Comparative Study Taking Account of the ECHR]. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.Google Scholar
Gerdes, Jürgen and Faist, Thomas (2006) ‘Von ethnischer zu republikanischer Integration: Der Diskurs um die Reform des deutschen Staatsangehörigkeitsrechts’ [‘From Ethnic to Republican Integration: The Discourse on the Reform of the German Citizenship Law’], Berliner Journal für Soziologie 3: 313335.Google Scholar
Glenn, Patrick (2010) Legal Traditions of the World, 4th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Häberle, Peter (2008) Das Menschenbild im Verfassungsstaat [The Image of the Human Being in the Constitutional State], 4th edn. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.Google Scholar
Heinig, Hans Michael (2009) ‘Die religiös-weltanschauliche Neutralität nach dem Grundgesetz’ [‘Religious and Value Neutrality According to the Basic Law’], epd-Dokumentation 31: 1723.Google Scholar
Henkes, Christian and Kneip, Sascha (2010) ‘Von offener Neutralität zu (unintendiertem) Laizismus: Das Kopftuch zwischen democratischem Mehrheitswillen und rechtsstaatlichen Schranken’ [‘From Open Neutrality to (Unintended) Laicism: The Headscarf between Democratic Will of the Majority and Constitutional Limits’], Leviathan 38: 589616.Google Scholar
Hunter-Henin, Myriam (2012) ‘Why the French Don't Like the Burqa: Laïcité, National Identity and Religious Freedom’, International & Comparative Law Quarterly 61(3): 613639.Google Scholar
Jackson, Vicki C. (2012) ‘Comparative Constitutional Law: Methodologies’ in Rosenfeld, Michel and Sajó, András (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 5474.Google Scholar
Joppke, Christian (2007) ‘State Neutrality and Islamic Headscarf Laws in France and Germany’, Theory and Society 36(4): 313342.Google Scholar
Joppke, Christian (2009) Veil: Mirror of Identity. Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Joppke, Christian and Torpey, John (2013) Legal Integration of Islam: A Transatlantic Comparison. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, Tonio (2015) ‘Das Kopftuch im Klassenzimmer: konkrete, abstrakte, gefühlte Gefahr?’ [‘The Headscarf in the Classroom: Concrete, Abstract, Perceived Danger?’], Die Öffentliche Verwaltung 11: 64470.Google Scholar
Kokott, Juliane (2005) ‘Laizismus und Religionsfreiheit im öffentlichen Raum’ [‘Laicism and Religious Freedom in the Public Space’], Der Staat 343365.Google Scholar
Ladeur, Karl-Heinz (2015) ‘Das islamische Kopftuch in der christlichen Gemeinschaftsschule’ [‘Islamic Headscard in Christian Interdenominational School’], Juristen Zeitung, 70(13): 633637.Google Scholar
Levade, Anne (2010) ‘Épilogue d'un débat juridique: l'interdiction de la dissimulation du visage dans l'espace public validée!’ [‘Epilogue of a Juridical Debate: Ban on Face Concealement in Public Space Validated!’], La Semaine juridique Édition générale 43: 19771981.Google Scholar
Mathieu, Bertrand (2010) ‘La validation par le Conseil constitutionnel de la loi sur “le voile intégral”: La reconnaissance implicite d'un ordre public “immatériel”’ [‘The Validation by the Constitutional Council of the Law on “Integral Veiling”: The Implicit Recognition of an “Immaterial” Public Order’], La Semaine Juridique Édition Générale 42: 19301932.Google Scholar
Nelken, David (2004) ‘Using the Concept of Legal Culture’, Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy 29: 126.Google Scholar
Nelken, David (2010) ‘Using Legal Culture: Purposes and Problems’, Journal of Comparative Law 5(2): 139.Google Scholar
Noiriel, Gérard (2007) À quoi sert ‘l'identité nationale’ [The Use of ‘National Identity’]. Marseille: Agone.Google Scholar
Ouald chaib, Saïla and Brems, Eva (2013) ‘Doing Minority Justice through Procedural Fairness: Face Veil Bans in Europe’, Journal of Muslims in Europe 2: 126.Google Scholar
Renan, Ernest (1882) Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? Conférence faite en Sorbonne, le 11 mars 1882 [What Is a Nation? Conference Held at the Sorbonne, 11th March 1882]. Paris: Calmann Lévy Éditeur.Google Scholar
Reynaud-Paligot, Carole (2015) ‘Les origines de la notion de race dans la culture française’ [‘Origins of the Notion of Race in French Culture’] in Laurentin, Emmanuel (ed.) Histoire d'une république fragile [History of a Fragile Republic]. Paris: France Culture and Fayard, 141148.Google Scholar
Robbers, Gerhard (2001) ‘Religious Freedom in Germany’, Brigham Young University Law Review 2: 643668.Google Scholar
Rosanvallon, Pierre (2004) Le modèle politique français [The French Political Model]. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jaques (2002a) ‘The Second Discourse: Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Mankind’, trans. Crocker, L., in Dunn, Susan (ed.) The Social Contract and the First and Second Discourse. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 69148.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jaques (2002b) ‘The Social Contract’, trans. Dunn, S. and Tozer, H.J., in Dunn, Susan (ed.) The Social Contract and The First and Second Discourse. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 149256.Google Scholar
Rusteberg, Benjamin (2015) ‘Kopftuchverbote als Mittel zur Abwehr nicht existenter Gefahren’ [‘Headscarf Bans as Defence against a Non-Existing Danger’], Juristen Zeitung 70(13): 637644.Google Scholar
Sachs, Michael (2015) ‘Kein allgemeines Kopftuchverbot für Lehrerinnen in der Schule’ [‘No General Headscarf Ban for Teachers at School’], Juristische Schulung 571574.Google Scholar
Sacksofsky, Ute (2009) ‘Religiöse Freiheit als Gefahr?’ [‘Religious Freedom as Danger?’], Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer 68: 846.Google Scholar
Sacksofsky, Ute (2015) ‘Kopftuch als Gefahr – ein dogmatischer Irrweg’ [‘Headscarf as Danger – A Dogmatical Wrong Track’], Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt (DVBl) 13: 801808.Google Scholar
Schwabe, Jürgen (2015) ‘Anmerkung’ [‘Comment’], Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt 9: 570572.Google Scholar
Scott, Joan (2007) The Politics of the Veil. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sinclair, Stefanie (2012) ‘National Identity and the Politics of the “Headscarf Debate” in Germany’, Culture and Religion – An Interdisciplinary Journal 13(1): 1939.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony (1986) The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Theilen, Jens T. (2015) ‘Towards Acceptance of Religious Pluralism: The Federal Constitutional Court's Second Judgement on Muslim Teachers Wearing Headscarves’, German Yearbook of International Law 58.Google Scholar
Traub, Thomas (2015) ‘Abstrakte und konkrete Gefahren religiöser Symbole in öffentlichen Schulen’ [‘Abstract and Concrete Dangers of Religious Symbols in the Public Schools’], Neue Juristische Wochenschift 13381341.Google Scholar
Trispiotis, Ilias (2016) ‘Two Interpretations of “Living Together” in European Human Rights Law’, Cambridge Law Journal 75(3): 580607.Google Scholar
Verpeaux, Michel (2010) ‘Dissimulation du visage, la délicate conciliation entre la liberté et un nouvel ordre public’ [‘Face Covering, the Delicate Conciliation between Freedom and a New Public Order’], Actualité Juridique – Droit Administratif 42: 23732377.Google Scholar