31 July 2013

COURSE: Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World

 
Coursera.org provides interesting course 'Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World'. The reader is Dr. Ebrahim Afsah. Dr. Afsah is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.

This course is a survey of the constitutional ideas and institutions that have developed since the mid 19th century throughout predominantly Muslim countries, but its focus will lie on the actors that have dominated this discourse and shaped its outcomes. The participants will look at the large body of classical writings on the Islamic state only in so far as it is necessary to understand the contemporary debate, but concentrate on the legal and political developments of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The course will consist of lectures in short (10-15 min) videos, each of which will be followed by an exercise in which participants can test their grasp of the new material. The exercises will combine multiple-choice with essay-type questions.

Most lectures will be accompanied by written background material from the instructor which, hopefully, will eventually form the basis of a text-book. Participants are, therefore, welcome to give feedback in order to improve this material.


Topics: Introduction and General Overview, Classical Thinking on the Islamic State, Saudi Arabia and Gulf Monarchies, Egypt and North Africa, Consociational Dilemmas: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, The Post-Communist Periphery: Bosnia to Soviet and Chinese Central Asia, Conclusion and Outlook.

Sessions: Dec 2nd 2013 (11 weeks long)

Further information can be found here.

 

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