TY - JOUR
T1 - From foreign text to local meaning
T2 - The politics of religious exclusion in transnational constitutional borrowing
AU - Nelson, Matthew J.
AU - Bâli, Asll
AU - Mednicoff, David
AU - Lerner, Hanna
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political scientists and scholars of comparative constitutional law have analyzed the transnational movement of constitutional ideas and norms, but the political processes through which the meaning of foreign provisions might be refashioned remain understudied. Sociolegal scholars have examined the transplantation and translation of laws and legal institutions, but they rarely scrutinize this process in the context of constitutions. Drawing on an examination of borrowed constitutional elements in four cases (Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel), this article builds on research in comparative politics, comparative constitutional law, and sociolegal studies to provide a nuanced picture of deliberate efforts to import inclusive constitutional provisions regarding religion-state relations while, at the same time, refashioning the meaning of those provisions in ways that exclude specific forms of religious, sectarian, doctrinal, or ideological diversity. Building on sociolegal studies regarding the translation of law, we argue that foreign constitutional elements embraced by politically embedded actors are often treated as empty signifiers with meanings that are deliberately transformed. Tracing the processes that lead political actors to engage foreign constitutional elements, even if they have no intention of transplanting their prior meaning, we highlight the need for detailed case studies to reveal both the international and the national dynamics that shape and reshape the meaning of constitutions today.
AB - Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political scientists and scholars of comparative constitutional law have analyzed the transnational movement of constitutional ideas and norms, but the political processes through which the meaning of foreign provisions might be refashioned remain understudied. Sociolegal scholars have examined the transplantation and translation of laws and legal institutions, but they rarely scrutinize this process in the context of constitutions. Drawing on an examination of borrowed constitutional elements in four cases (Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel), this article builds on research in comparative politics, comparative constitutional law, and sociolegal studies to provide a nuanced picture of deliberate efforts to import inclusive constitutional provisions regarding religion-state relations while, at the same time, refashioning the meaning of those provisions in ways that exclude specific forms of religious, sectarian, doctrinal, or ideological diversity. Building on sociolegal studies regarding the translation of law, we argue that foreign constitutional elements embraced by politically embedded actors are often treated as empty signifiers with meanings that are deliberately transformed. Tracing the processes that lead political actors to engage foreign constitutional elements, even if they have no intention of transplanting their prior meaning, we highlight the need for detailed case studies to reveal both the international and the national dynamics that shape and reshape the meaning of constitutions today.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094926663&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.75
DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.75
M3 - مقالة
SN - 0897-6546
VL - 45
SP - 935
EP - 964
JO - Law and Social Inquiry
JF - Law and Social Inquiry
IS - 4
ER -