ABSTRACT
The Arab Spring of 2011 that sought the demise of authoritarian regimes in a number of Middle Eastern countries ushered in not only fresh expectations of democracy but also concerns about the rise to power of political parties intent on introducing Islamic forms of government and laws. Apprehensions about the impact of constitutional provisions providing for the recognition of Islamic law on the human rights of religious minorities and women have been a frequent topic of academic discourse in recent years (Baderin 2005; Hirschl 2008). Most recently, they were raised in the run-up to the framing of the new constitutions of Iraq in 2005 (Lau 2005) and Afghanistan in 2004 (Mahmoudi 2004; Benard and Hachigian 2003; Mattar 2006). While the issue is more usually discussed in relation to Muslimmajority states, there is also a growing body of literature on the recognition of Islamic law in European countries and indeed North America (see Chapter 19, below; Lau and Freeland 2008).
