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    From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing

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    Author
    Nelson, MJ; Bâli, A; Mednicoff, D; Lerner, H
    Date
    2020
    Source Title
    Law and Social Inquiry
    Publisher
    Cambridge University Press (CUP)
    University of Melbourne Author/s
    Nelson, Matthew
    Affiliation
    Asia Institute
    Metadata
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    Document Type
    Journal Article
    Citations
    Nelson, M. J., Bâli, A., Mednicoff, D. & Lerner, H. (2020). From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing. Law & Social Inquiry, 45 (4), pp.1-30. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.75.
    Access Status
    Access this item via the Open Access location
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11343/254117
    DOI
    10.1017/lsi.2019.75
    Open Access URL
    https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/31868/3/Nelson_From%20Foreign%20Text%20to%20Local%20Meaning.pdf
    Abstract
    <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>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.</jats:p>

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