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5 of 5 persons found the following review helpful.
accessible, thorough, well-argued and well-sourced
By Donovan G. Rinker
Nathan Brown’s book is amidst the best legal writing when it comes to law in the Arab world available. Neither to general to describe reality meaningfully nor too elaborate to be accessible, Brown fends off the obsessive fixation upon Islam and gender that dominates most legal discourse when it comes to the region (usually motivated by grants which are in turn politically driven), Brown presents a very clear set of questions: does ‘rule of law’ in the Arab world principally arise from colonial impositions from alien powers, liberal legality (the pursuit of law as a means to restrain power), or from an venture to extend and consolidate power? Brown argues that the latter is the best account of the ‘rule of law,’ but likewise that this peculiar routine of consolidating power is itself constraining, as a government that seeks to rule through laws has to once in a while grant tactical vantages to those it governs. The writing is clear, the roots extensive, and the author places real Arab origins at the center of his analysis, rather than citing the Western scholars who “know” the region better than it is occupants. Still, as I see it, the important contribution of the book is in disturbing basic conventions when it comes to the ‘rule of law’ itself.
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