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All Outputs (33)

Pandemic Politics in South Asia: Muslims and Democracy (2021)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J. (2021). Pandemic Politics in South Asia: Muslims and Democracy. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 19(1), 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2021.1874164

In South Asia, entrenched social and political cleavages involving Muslims or particular groups of Muslims have shaped state efforts to address the global Covid-19 pandemic: Hindu nationalists blamed Muslims for introducing the virus to India; anti-C... Read More about Pandemic Politics in South Asia: Muslims and Democracy.

From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing (2020)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J., Bâli, A. Ü., Mednicoff, D., & Lerner, H. (2020). From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing. Law & Social Inquiry, 45(4), 935-964. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.75

Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political... Read More about From Foreign Text to Local Meaning: The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Transnational Constitutional Borrowing.

Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom: From Ireland and India to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (2019)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J. (2020). Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom: From Ireland and India to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Journal of Asian studies, 79(1), 129-154. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911819000615

Building on research concerning constitutional migration, I show how constitutional provisions regarding religious freedom (‘subject to public order’) arrived in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, not via colonial British or traditional Islamic source... Read More about Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom: From Ireland and India to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Indian Basic Structure Jurisprudence in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Reconfiguring the Constitutional Politics of Religion (2018)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J. (2018). Indian Basic Structure Jurisprudence in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Reconfiguring the Constitutional Politics of Religion. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 13(2), 333-357. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2018.18

In both India and Pakistan, parliament is constitutionally endowed with ‘constituent power’, that is, the power to introduce constitutional amendments via procedures laid down in the constitution itself. Duly promulgated amendments, however, are occa... Read More about Indian Basic Structure Jurisprudence in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Reconfiguring the Constitutional Politics of Religion.

Operationalizing and Regulating Religious Freedom: Apostasy and Administrative "Reasonableness" in Malaysia and Beyond (2018)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J., & Shah, D. A. H. (2018). Operationalizing and Regulating Religious Freedom: Apostasy and Administrative "Reasonableness" in Malaysia and Beyond. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 16(4), 1293-1321. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moy100

As a fundamental human right, religious freedom is commonly associated with the right to choose or change one’s religion (religious self-identification). We use the famous Malaysian case of Muslim-to-Christian convert Lina Joy to examine the operatio... Read More about Operationalizing and Regulating Religious Freedom: Apostasy and Administrative "Reasonableness" in Malaysia and Beyond.

Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom (2015)
Journal Article
Schonthal, B., Moustafa, T., Nelson, M. J., & Shankar, S. (2016). Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(8), 966-986. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215613380

Although “rule of law” is often regarded as a solution for religious conflict, this article analyzes the role of legal processes and institutions in hardening boundaries and sharpening antagonisms among religious communities. Using case studies from... Read More about Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom.

Social, Religious, and Political Change in Pakistan (2014)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J. (2014). Social, Religious, and Political Change in Pakistan. Seminar (New Delhi.1959), 664, 20-23

TYPICALLY, those with an interest in the politics of Pakistan focus on macro-level trends at the level of high politics. Occasionally, some attention is paid to regional, ethnic and sectarian politics. In what follows, I turn to grassroots trends roo... Read More about Social, Religious, and Political Change in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy (2013)
Journal Article
Milam, W. B., & Nelson, M. J. (2013). Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy. Survival, 55(1), 121-134. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2013.767409

If US policymakers did not fully understand before 2011 how important the so-called ‘Arab street’ is in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, they surely do by now. Whether this principle extends to other parts of the Muslim world is not... Read More about Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy.

Embracing the Ummah: Student Politics beyond State Power in Pakistan (2011)
Journal Article
Nelson, M. J. (2011). Embracing the Ummah: Student Politics beyond State Power in Pakistan. Modern Asian Studies, 45(3), 565-596. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X11000242

Studies of student politics in Pakistan often focus on the competition between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ student groups—for example, the leftward-leaning National Students Federation, regional parties with a broadly secular orientation like the Pakht... Read More about Embracing the Ummah: Student Politics beyond State Power in Pakistan.