Cartea "The Struggle for Constitutional Power "

The Struggle for Constitutional Power   Inchide

For nearly three decades, scholars and policymakers have placed considerable stock in judicial reform as a panacea for the political and economic turmoil plaguing developing countries. Courts are charged with spurring economic development, safeguarding human rights, and even facilitating transitions to democracy. How realistic are these expectations, and in what political contexts can judicial reforms deliver their expected benefits? In this book, Tamir Moustafa addresses these issues through an examination of the politics of the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court, the most important experiment in consitutionalism in the Arab world. It also examines the dynamics of legal mobilization in this most unlikely political environment. Standing at the intersection of political science, economics, and comparative law, The Struggle for Constitutional Power challenges conventional wisdom and provides new insights into perennial questions concerning the barriers to institutional development, economic growth, and democracy in the developing world.



• Provides the first book-length study (in English) of the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court, the most important in the Arab world • Provides an analysis of the barriers to democratization, economic development, judicial reform in Egypt, and the developing world in general • Offers the first comprehensive analysis of constitutional dynamics in non-democratic states.



Contents



1. Introduction: law versus the state; 2. The politics of domination: law and resistance in authoritarian states; 3. The establishment of the Supreme Constitutional Court; 4. The emergence of constitutional power (1979–1990); 5. The rapid expansion of constitutional power (1991–1997); 6. Executive retrenchment and an uncertain future (1998–2005); 7. Law, development, and democracy: a critical appraisal; Appendix A. SCC justices and commissioners; Appendix B. Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Appendix C. Law 49/1979 governing the Supreme Constitutional Court; Appendix D. Figures on Supreme Constitutional Court rulings; Bibliography.

Inchide