Authoritarianism, Informal Law, and Legal Hybridity


Book Description

This book investigates Turkey’s departure from a ‘flawed democracy’ under Kemalist secularism, and its transitioning into Islamist authoritarian Erdoğanism, through the lenses of informal law, legal pluralism, and legal hybridity. In doing so, it examines the attempts of Turkey’s ruling party (AKP) at social engineering and gradual Islamisation of the Turkish state and society, by using informal Islamist laws. To that end, the book argues that the AKP has paved the way for Islamist legal hybridity where society, state, and law, are being gradually Islamised on an ad hoc basis. Informal law and legal pluralism in Turkey have had a non-state characteristic which have permitted Muslims to solve disputes by seeking the opinions of religio-legal scholars. Yet under the AKP rule, this informal legal system has become increasingly dominated by conservatives, sometimes radical Islamists, which the governing party has taken advantage of by either formalizing some parts of the informal Islamist law, or using it informally to mobilize its supporters against the opposition.




Authoritarianism, Informal Law, and Legal Hybridity


Book Description

This book investigates Turkey's departure from a 'flawed democracy' under Kemalist secularism, and its transitioning into Islamist authoritarian Erdoğanism, through the lenses of informal law, legal pluralism, and legal hybridity. In doing so, it examines the attempts of Turkey's ruling party (AKP) at social engineering and gradual Islamisation of the Turkish state and society, by using informal Islamist laws. To that end, the book argues that the AKP has paved the way for Islamist legal hybridity where society, state, and law, are being gradually Islamised on an ad hoc basis. Informal law and legal pluralism in Turkey have had a non-state characteristic which have permitted Muslims to solve disputes by seeking the opinions of religio-legal scholars. Yet under the AKP rule, this informal legal system has become increasingly dominated by conservatives, sometimes radical Islamists, which the governing party has taken advantage of by either formalizing some parts of the informal Islamist law, or using it informally to mobilize its supporters against the opposition. Ihsan Yilmaz is Research Professor and Chair at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. He has conducted mixed method research on authoritarianism, legal pluralism, nation-building, citizenship, Islam-state-law relations in majority and minority contexts (Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, UK, USA and Australia), Islamism, populism, transnationalism, ethnoreligious and political minorities, securitisation, and intergroup relations. He was Professor of Political Science at Istanbul Fatih University (2008-2016), Lecturer in Law, Social Sciences and Politics at SOAS, University of London (2001-2008), and a fellow at Centre for Islamic Studies, the University of Oxford (1999-2001).




Sharia as Informal Law


Book Description

This book takes a comprehensive approach to investigate how Sharia influences and manifests in the everyday lives of young Muslims, aiming to unravel the meaning and relevance of Sharia-driven laws and practices in English-speaking Western societies. By focusing on the grassroots level, it provides a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of Muslims and their relationship with Sharia. The presence of Muslims in Western countries has a long history, with recent waves of migration and conversions contributing to their increasing numbers. This study recognizes the diverse nature of the Muslim community, comprising both migrants and local converts, who have become integral parts of the pluralistic fabric of multicultural societies. The research draws on in-depth interviews with 122 young Muslim individuals from diverse backgrounds representing three different Western countries: Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Diversity of participants allows for a broader exploration of the Muslim community and the inherent diversity of opinions, interpretations, and practices regarding Sharia. This approach moves beyond theoretical debates, providing concrete insights into the practical implications of Sharia for young Muslims in their respective Western contexts. The book also sheds light on the evolving landscape of information and knowledge acquisition in the age of digital technologies and cyberspace. It explores how young Muslims access and seek knowledge in the twenty-first century, recognizing the impact of changing sources and modes of information on their religious practices and beliefs. This aspect adds a valuable dimension to the study, capturing the dynamic nature of knowledge dissemination and acquisition among young Muslims in Western societies. The book will be fascinating reading for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Law, Political Science, Minority Studies, Religious Studies, and Islamic Studies.




Populism, Authoritarianism and Necropolitics


Book Description

This book examines how Turkey’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan produces and employs necropolitical narratives in order to perpetuate its authoritarian rule. In doing so, the book argues that as the party transitioned from socially conservative Muslim democratic values to authoritarian Islamism, it embraced a necropolitical narrative based on the promotion of martyrdom, and of killing and dying for the Turkish nation and Islam, as part of their authoritarian legitimation. This narrative, the book shows, is used by the party to legitimise its actions and deflect its failures through the framing of the deaths of Turkish soldiers and civilians, which have occurred due to the AKP’s political errors, as martyrdom events in which loyal servants of the Turkish Republic and God gave their lives in order to protect the nation in a time of great crisis. This book also describes how, throughout its second decade in power, the AKP has used Turkey’s education system, its Directorate of Religious Affairs, and television programs in order to propagate its necropolitical martyrdom narrative.




The Sociology of Shari’a


Book Description

This edited collection focuses on the comparative analysis of the application of Shari’a in countries with Muslim minorities (e.g. USA, Australia, Germany and Italy) and majorities (e.g. Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Morocco). Most chapters in this new edition have been revised and the book as a whole has been updated to give even more international coverage. This text provides a sociological and global analysis of a phenomenon that goes beyond the ‘West versus the rest’ dichotomy. One example of this is how included are case studies in Muslim minority countries not exclusively located in the West. Although the contributors of this book come from various disciplines such as law, anthropology, and sociology, this volume has a strong sociological focus on the analysis of Shari’a. The final part of the book indeed draws out from all the case studies explored some ground-breaking theories on the sociology of Shari’a such as the application of Black, Chambliss and Eisenstein’s sociological theories. This text appeals to students and researchers working in the sociology of religion.




Securitization and Authoritarianism


Book Description

This book focuses on securitization and authoritarianism in Turkey with research on the country’s Islamist populist ruling party’s (AKP) oppression of different socio-political, ethnic and religious groups. In doing so, it analyzes how the AKP has securitized to oppress different socio-political groups and identities, according to the time and need for the party's political survival. Research in the book sheds light on the use of traumas, conspiracy theories, and fear as tools in the securitization and repression processes.







Islam in the Anglosphere


Book Description

Using semi-structured interviews with 122 young Muslims in Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) from diverse ethnic backgrounds, this book investigates the lived reality of young Muslims from their own perspectives. It explores their ideas of key Islamic and secular issues, their struggles, world views, triumphs, how the stigmatized group negotiates their identity in these three English language speaking Western countries, 20 years after 9/11. The key aspect of this book is to transcend binaries and reductionisms by exploring what Muslims actually think and say rather than intellectual articulations on them. The book presents a very detailed account of these young Muslims in the Anglophone West on their political beliefs, their knowledge and understanding of sharia law, their interest and participation in local and transnational political activism, their positive and negative feelings about their own communities, and indeed how they define their community.




Public Sector Management


Book Description

In an era marked by unprecedented challenges, from the climate crisis to the rise of populism, the ways to manage public sector organisations have dramatically changed. In the eighth edition of this bestselling textbook, Flynn and Asquer offer the definitive introduction to public administration. Now substantially revised and updated throughout, this text reflects the latest approaches, tools and techniques that help governments respond to the multifaceted problems facing societies today and pre-empt those of tomorrow. Recognising the importance of context, Public Sector Managementunderscores that one-size-fits-all management practices are inadequate. Learn how public sector management adapts to changing political climates and societal pressures and be guided through the intricacies of making evidence-based policies while acknowledging the political dynamics that shape them. Updates to the eighth edition include: · A Global Perspective: Explore variations in public sector management shaped by cultural, historical, and institutional contexts, and gain a deep understanding of how governments address challenges in unique ways. · Balancing Theory and Practice: the new edition offers amore detailed and holistic perspective on public sector management by bringing in the latest theoretical insights and real-world public sector management practices. · Adapting to Change and tacking today’s issues: Confront the challenges faced in the age of technology, from artificial intelligence to Big Data; the climate crisis and clean energy transitions; and resulting from the latest geopolitical shifts including workforce migration to the erosion of trust in democracies. · A Call for Contextual Understanding: Learn how factors such as heterogeneity, population, income inequality, and technological access influence public sector management practices. Public Sector Management is essential reading for upper undergraduate and postgraduate students studying public sector management or public administration and is perfect for those studying on a Master of Public Administration programme. Norman Flynn was Director of the Centre for Financial and Management Studies, SOAS, University of London and Programme Director of the MSc in Public Policy and Management. Alberto Asquer is Head of the School of Finance and Management, Programme Director, MSc Public Policy and Management, and Senior Lecturer of Public Policy and Management at SOAS University of London




Law and Power in Russia


Book Description

This book explores the issue of selective law enforcement, arguing that the manipulation of the legal system by powerful insiders is a distinctive feature of Putinism, reflecting both its hybrid authoritarianism and Russian legal culture. Based on extensive research including interviews with the victims of selective law enforcement, the book analyses how selective law enforcement works in Russia, discusses the link between law and power, and relates the Russian situation to examples from elsewhere and to general legal theories and ideas of political hybridity.