Jeremy Kleidosty - The Concert of Civilizations: The Common Roots of Western and Islamic Constitutionalism

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THE CONCERT OF CIVILIZATIONS

Rethinking Political and International Theory

Series Editors:
Keith Breen, Dan Bulley and Susan McManus,
all at Queens University Belfast, UK

Committed to show you in what ways traditional approaches in political and international theory may be applied to twenty-first century politics, this series will present inventive and pioneering theoretical work designed to build a common framework for the latest scholarly research on political theory and international relations.

Intended to be international and interdisciplinary in scope, the series will contain works which advance our understanding of the relevance of seminal thinkers to our current socio-political context(s) as well as problematise and offer new insights into key political concepts and phenomena within the arena of politics and international relations.

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The Concert of Civilizations

The Common Roots of Western and Islamic Constitutionalism

JEREMY KLEIDOSTY

University of Jyvskyl, Finland

First published 2015 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Jeremy Kleidosty 2015

Jeremy Kleidosty has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Library of Congress has been applied for

ISBN 9781472414809 (hbk)
ISBN 9781315614953 (ebk-PDF)
ISBN 9781317037477 (ebk-ePUB)

Contents

Acknowledgements

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but I will never forget the overwhelming support of so many people during the course of writing this book.

Much credit for the actual completion of this book is due to colleagues at the University of St Andrews, particularly Professor Anthony Lang. He read through countless drafts and offered a number of key methodological suggestions that allowed me to grapple with a very unwieldy topic. Likewise, Professor Nicholas Rengger was instrumental in helping me to find a niche within political theory early on in my scholarly career. His suggestions on readings and conceptual frameworks were extremely formative and helpful.

I also wish to give my sincere thanks to those who made it financially possible for me to pursue this work. Countless friends and family members donated money for our initial move to Scotland. The support from the Binks Trust and teaching and conference grants from the School of International Relations are likewise appreciated.

Thank you to my parents, extended family, and amazingly supportive circle of friends for believing in me and my work. I continue to strive to deserve your confidence and to make you proud. Finally, I wish to give my love and thanks to my wife Elizabeth, whose willingness to let me put in the hours needed to see this through and constant encouragement saw me through many difficult times. You and our children give my work meaning and purpose that cannot be overstated.

See Lincoln, Abraham. Gettysburg Address.

Preface

In the spirit of comparative political theory, this book analyzes the ideas that have shaped Western and Islamic constitutional discourse and assesses the extent to which they intersect at key historical and philosophical points. This goal is placed within a larger debate of whether Islam and constitutionalism are mutually exclusive.

The book begins by positioning itself against Elie Kedourie, who argues that Islam is inherently incompatible with constitutional governance. It then addresses the idea of constitutionalism as described by Western thinkers on three constitutional concepts: the rule of law, reflection of national character, and placing boundaries on government power. These are examined through the lens of a particular canonical text or thinker, Cicero, Montesquieu, and The Federalist Papers, respectively. This is followed by a comparison of the Magna Carta and Muhammads The Constitution of Medina. Islamic corollaries to the constitutional ideas discussed earlier are then examined. Al-Farabis On the Perfect State, ibn Khalduns asabiyya (group feeling) in the Muqaddimah, and the redefinition of the state in the 19th century Ottoman Tanzimat reforms are discussed. Following this, the book looks at a moment in history where these two traditions intersected in 19th century Tunisia in the work of Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi, undertaking a detailed analysis of the introductory section of his book The Surest Path to Knowledge Concerning the Conditions of Countries.

The abstract philosophical questions that motivated this inquiry suddenly have unquestioned practical implications. In recognition of this, the conclusion of the book looks at how theorists are addressing the pressing concerns of various states and peoples.

Introduction

The Challenge of Comparative Constitutional Analysis, Questions and Methods

A word said but not heard does not make language. Therefore, realization is made through dialogue The general commonalities that languages share, both in terms of wisdom and numerous similar functions stem from the common humanistic nature of humans. Their differences, however, stem from their historical, geographical and civilizational differences as well as due to their different social and cultural experiences. And since we grow inside cultural and lingual surroundings, rather than outside them, recognition of this point, that the cultural and lingual surroundings of fellow nations originally differ from our history, culture and language is extremely difficult. Nonetheless we may accept these differences, interpreting them in the context of cultural and religious pluralism.

(Mohammad Khatami, The Theoretical Foundations of the Dialogue of Civilizations)

The Wests universalist pretensions increasingly bring it into conflict with other civilizations, most seriously with Islam and China The survival of the West depends upon Americans reaffirming their Western identity and Westerners accepting their civilization as unique not universal and uniting to renew and preserve it against challenges from non-Western societies. Avoidance of a global war of civilization depends on world leaders accepting and cooperating to maintain the multicivilizational character of global politics.

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