Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Realist (Why do We Need a Realist Constitutional Theory to Study the Politics of Constitutional Change in the Middle East?)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2017-08-01 al 2019-07-31
In sum, REALIST involves two main objectives.
- To propose and apply constitutional transformations in the Middle East by a realist approach
- To analyze and evaluate the failure of political Islam in leading a constitutional transformation on grounds of a realist political theory
1) Conducting a comprehensive critical review on the existing theoretical perspectives on constitutional theory and constitutional changes in order to address the reasons why they fail in grappling with political Islam-led constitutional transformations
2) Aiming to establish a dialogue between realist approaches in political and legal theories so as to highlight the added value of this theory.
Under WP2, which examines the reasons for the failure of political Islam in guiding constitutional transformation, I pushed the realist approach in political theory to founding moment and constitutional change. This has been done so in the following way:
1) Examining the secondary sources concerning the historical context in three countries (Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia)
2) Examining the way in which Islamic political thought/local thinkers/political actors define major constitutional concepts including the constituent power, sovereignty, collective identities, and polity.
3) Analyzing the failure of political Islam by combining both historical and ideational perspectives and do this so in a comparative fashion by taking the specific conditions of each country into account
This work resulted in three academic papers, which were presented in several conferences, seminars, and workshops.
The first peer-reviewed article from the project is appeared in “From Weimar to Ankara: Carl Schmitt, sovereignty and democracy” is now published in Volume 45, Issue 6 of Philosophy & Social Criticism. Three research articles are currently under review.