Legal Pluralism and Shari??Law

Legal pluralism has often been associated with post-colonial legal developments especially where common law survived alongside tribal and customary laws. Focusing on Shari‘a, this book examines the legal policies and experiences of various societies with different traditions of citizenship, secularism and common law. Where large diasporic communities of migrants develop, there will be some demand for the institutionalization of Shari‘a at least in the resolution of domestic disputes. This book tests the limits of multiculturalism by exploring the issue that any recognition of cultural differences might imply similar recognition of legal differences. It also explores the debate about post-secular societies specifically to the presentation and justification of beliefs and institutions by both religious and secular citizens.

This book was published as a special issue of Democracy and Security.

Adam Possamai is Associate Professor in Sociology and is the current President of Research Committee 22 on the Sociology of Religion from the International Sociological Association.

James T. Richardson, J.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno and will be the President elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religions from October 2012.

Bryan S. Turner is the Presidential Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Committee on Religion at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and concurrently the Director of the Centre on Religion and Society at the University of Western Sydney.