Book: Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring By Dr. Nimer Sultany
Institute of law holds s discussion about
Book: Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring
By Dr. Nimer Sultany
On Thursday, October the 15th, 2020, The Institute of Law held an online discussion session about the book “Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring” through the online platform, Zoom. The Main speaker in this discussion was Dr. Nimer Sultany, author of the book and Reader in Public Law at SOAS University of London, whom holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Harvard Law School. Dr. Nimer is also the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Yearbook of International Law, and has many publications on constitutional theory, comparative constitutionalism, and Israeli jurisprudence. His book “ Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring” was awarded the winner of the 2018 ICON-S Book Prize and the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship.
The discussion was firstly introduced by Dr. Jamil Salem, Academic Researcher at the Institute of law, whom welcomed the attendees and presented Dr. Nimer to them, and gave a brief introduction about the book. Afterwards, Dr. Nimer began the discussion by clarifying the book’s objectives of observing trends in comparative law and constitutional education; as the book brings the Constitutional Theory to the Middle East in order to study the Arab Spring through a realistic theory that observes revolutions in its true sense and reflects on our perspective on how we view our reality.
Subsequently, the discussion focused on the book’s position in analyzing and critiquing the role of law in the course of the Arab revolutions. This was made by studying the connection between law and revolution in ten chapters of the book, which included analysis of constitutional and legal developments in an Arab constitutional historical context. Hence, the book studied the revolution and the trials former regime-leaders in both Tunisia and Egypt, and the constitutional changes that took place at that time.
The book noted the difficulties encountered with these developments and the results that led to them, as the lack of previous studies relating to the Arab Spring in this context was also touched upon. Since it is rare for studies to address the role of law and its practices, this Book aims to question and criticize many of the prevailing political, legal and constitutional theories.
At the end of the session, a few minutes were saved for discussion, which featured many questions, interventions and recommendations.
