1st Edition
Redesigning Justice for Plural Societies Case Studies of Minority Accommodation from around the Globe
This volume examines cases of accommodation and recognition of minority practices: cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic or otherwise, under state law. The collection presents selected situations and experiences from a variety of regions and from different legal traditions around the world in which diverse societal stakeholders and political actors have engaged in processes leading to the elaboration of creative, innovative and, to a certain extent, sustainable solutions via accommodative laws or practices. Representing multiple disciplines and methodologies and written by esteemed scholars, the work analyses the pitfalls and successes of such accommodative practices, presenting insights into how solutions could or could not be achieved. The chapters address the sustainability and transferability of such solutions in order to further the dialogue in both scholarly and policy spheres. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and policy-makers in the areas of minority rights, legal anthropology, law and religion, legal philosophy, and law and migration.
Introduction
The Search for Justice in Plural Societies: The Opportunities and Pitfalls of Accommodative Law and Practices
Katayoun Alidadi, Marie-Claire Foblets, and Dominik Müller
Part I: Overcoming Structural (Legislative or Otherwise) Barriers to Accommodation
CHAPTER 1
Public Administrations and the Accommodation of Linguistic Diversity in the Dutch Language Area of Belgium
Jonathan Bernaerts
CHAPTER 2
Accommodating Access to Property: Land Restitution and Formalization in Colombia
Jorge L. Esquirol
CHAPTER 3
Recognition of New Religious Communities under Public Law in Switzerland: An Adequate Accommodation Tool?
René Pahud de Mortanges
CHAPTER 4
Overcoming Discriminating Taboos in Societies: What the German Experience Can Teach Us about Ideas of (Re)designing Justice Abroad
Markus Böckenförde
CHAPTER 5
The Spanish Observatory of Religious Pluralism: The Challenge of Fostering Accommodation through Information, Dissemination, and Research Activities
Eduardo J. Ruiz Vieytez and Mariana Rosca
PART II: Islam and Political, Legal, and Economic Inclusion
CHAPTER 6
Accommodation, Anxieties, and Ambivalence: Regulating Islam in Singapore
Jaclyn L. Neo
CHAPTER 7
House Rules for Islam in Hamburg: The State Contract between the City of Hamburg and Three Islamic Communities
Laura Haddad
PART III: Accommodation and Indigenous Rights
CHAPTER 8
Plurinational Law in the Bolivian Altiplano: Beyond Accommodation?
Annette Mehlhorn
CHAPTER 9
Seeking Solutions in the Land of the Long White Cloud: The Whanganui River Settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand as Accommodative Measure
Elizabeth Steyn
PART IV: The Role of the Judiciary in Negotiating Plural Normativities
CHAPTER 10
Anthropological Expertise in the Peruvian Intercultural Justice Project
Armando Guevara Gil and Roxana Vergara Rodríguez
CHAPTER 11
(Re)designing Living Customary Law to Protect a First Wife in a Pluralistic Legal System: The South African Constitutional Court Has Spoken
Christa Rautenbach
Biography
Katayoun Alidadi is Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA, and Research Partner at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany.
Marie-Claire Foblets is Professor of Law at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and Director of the Department of Law & Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany.
Dominik Müller is Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany.
'An extraordinary exploration of the ways in which societies worldwide are attempting to accommodate ethnic and religious diversity. The interdisciplinary focus on what works and is sustainable makes this volume indispensable for future efforts.'
Gerald L. Neuman, J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law; Director, Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School.
'This collaborative book, ‘Redesigning Justice for Plural Societies’, examines multiple legal practices from around the world and focuses on workable models of adapting different forms of diversity, including linguistic, religious and indigenous. The selected 11 diverse cases, from New Zealand to Bolivia, will be an especially important tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociology, anthropology, politics and law to deepen their understanding of the very diverse world we live in. But also to study different forms of governmentality and to gain insight into the dialogue and diplomacy between minority and majority groups, from varying regions, for a sustainable and peaceful society.'
Dr. Latif Tas, Associate Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Marie-Curie Global Award Winner.
'This is an important and fascinating volume that showcases the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of law and legal institutions; a path-breaking and thought-provoking contribution.'
Prof Kevin YL Tan, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.
