Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World

Nathan J. Brown is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. He is the author of The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf and Peasant Politics in Modern Egypt: The Struggle Against the State.

• Foreword Introduction Part One The Purposes of Arab Constitutions Introduction: Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World 1. Early Constitutional Documents in the Middle East 2. Constitutions and Arab Monarchies 3. Republican Constitutions Conclusion to Part One: The Purposes of Arab Constitutions Part Two Constitutional Possibilities in the Arab World Introduction: Constitutions and Constitutionalism 4. Parliamentarism and Constitutional Possibilities in the Arab World 5. Judicial Review in Arab Constitutional Systems 6. Islamic Constitutionalism Conclusion: Lessons from the Arab Constitutional Experience Notes Bibliography Index

"Brown understands how law fits in with the burning issues of Middle Eastern politics. He demonstrates how rulers can use law and constitutions to strengthen their rule, while most of the existing literature focuses on how they restrict central power. This is particularly interesting in light of the last ten years of liberalization in the Third World, where rulers in Africa, for example, have had to figure out how to meet International Monetary Fund demands for a degree of political liberalization without actually giving up power." — Jill Crystal, author of Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar