Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages
<p>Egypt’s three constitutions in three years after the fall of Mubarak in 2011 were unprecedented in Egypt’s constitutional history and reflect the socio-political context in which they were drafted. Each defines the relationship between citizen and state, between the branches of government,...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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2015
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| _version_ | 1826280750410891264 |
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| author | McRobie, H |
| author_facet | McRobie, H |
| author_sort | McRobie, H |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Egypt’s three constitutions in three years after the fall of Mubarak in 2011 were unprecedented in Egypt’s constitutional history and reflect the socio-political context in which they were drafted. Each defines the relationship between citizen and state, between the branches of government, the role of the military and the role of religion in the state. This thesis demonstrates that the three constitutions are also ‘legal mosaics’ comprised in part of the legal legacies and constitutional heritages of Egypt’s pre-2011 modern history, from the 1923 constitution onwards. The legal legacies of Egypt can be defined thematically as the British colonial legal legacy, the French colonial legal legacy, pan-Arabist socialist-influenced constitutions and Islamic jurisprudence and shari’a. The 2011 constitution’s interim nature gives it specific qualities that combine constitutional qualities with provisional qualities of a document written during an unfinished revolution. The 2012 constitution reflects both Egypt’s constitutional heritages and legal legacies, and the social and political conditions in which it was drafted, under the shortlived Muslim Brotherhood-backed Presidency of Mohammad Morsi. The 2013 constitution reflects both Egypt’s constitutional heritages and legal legacies, and the social and political conditions in which it was drafted, after the removal of Mohammad Morsi and the subsequent state clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s tumultuous recent history can be read through its successive post-revolutionary constitutional documents, including which parts of Egypt’s legal legacies and constitutional heritages were drawn upon in the successive 2011-2013 constitutions. This is most evident in the significant role of Article 2 in the constitutions, defining the role of religion. The empirical evidence and analysis presented in this thesis provides a significant original contribution to scholarship in the field by demonstrating how the drafters of Egypt’s three post-revolutionary constitutions drew upon the legal legacies and constitutional heritages of Egypt’s past in a way that reflects the social and political situation of the post-revolutionary period. It pioneers the concept of ‘legal mosaics’ as a way to read constitutions that have been written in states with a modern constitutional history that involve successive previous constitutions, and demonstrates how conceiving of the post-Mubarak constitutions of Egypt as ‘legal mosaics’ is crucial to understanding the content, the salient features and the socio-legal dimensions of these constitutional texts.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:18:23Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:7ba47967-2143-4880-a73c-ddeef77cdf82 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:18:23Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:7ba47967-2143-4880-a73c-ddeef77cdf822022-03-26T20:52:02ZLegal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritagesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:7ba47967-2143-4880-a73c-ddeef77cdf82ORA Deposit2015McRobie, H<p>Egypt’s three constitutions in three years after the fall of Mubarak in 2011 were unprecedented in Egypt’s constitutional history and reflect the socio-political context in which they were drafted. Each defines the relationship between citizen and state, between the branches of government, the role of the military and the role of religion in the state. This thesis demonstrates that the three constitutions are also ‘legal mosaics’ comprised in part of the legal legacies and constitutional heritages of Egypt’s pre-2011 modern history, from the 1923 constitution onwards. The legal legacies of Egypt can be defined thematically as the British colonial legal legacy, the French colonial legal legacy, pan-Arabist socialist-influenced constitutions and Islamic jurisprudence and shari’a. The 2011 constitution’s interim nature gives it specific qualities that combine constitutional qualities with provisional qualities of a document written during an unfinished revolution. The 2012 constitution reflects both Egypt’s constitutional heritages and legal legacies, and the social and political conditions in which it was drafted, under the shortlived Muslim Brotherhood-backed Presidency of Mohammad Morsi. The 2013 constitution reflects both Egypt’s constitutional heritages and legal legacies, and the social and political conditions in which it was drafted, after the removal of Mohammad Morsi and the subsequent state clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s tumultuous recent history can be read through its successive post-revolutionary constitutional documents, including which parts of Egypt’s legal legacies and constitutional heritages were drawn upon in the successive 2011-2013 constitutions. This is most evident in the significant role of Article 2 in the constitutions, defining the role of religion. The empirical evidence and analysis presented in this thesis provides a significant original contribution to scholarship in the field by demonstrating how the drafters of Egypt’s three post-revolutionary constitutions drew upon the legal legacies and constitutional heritages of Egypt’s past in a way that reflects the social and political situation of the post-revolutionary period. It pioneers the concept of ‘legal mosaics’ as a way to read constitutions that have been written in states with a modern constitutional history that involve successive previous constitutions, and demonstrates how conceiving of the post-Mubarak constitutions of Egypt as ‘legal mosaics’ is crucial to understanding the content, the salient features and the socio-legal dimensions of these constitutional texts.</p> |
| spellingShingle | McRobie, H Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title | Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title_full | Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title_fullStr | Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title_short | Legal mosaics: the post-Mubarak Egyptian constitutions, their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| title_sort | legal mosaics the post mubarak egyptian constitutions their legal legacies and constitutional heritages |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mcrobieh legalmosaicsthepostmubarakegyptianconstitutionstheirlegallegaciesandconstitutionalheritages |