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Elisa Giunchi

Bio: Elisa Giunchi is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: International trade & Sharia. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 38 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of case studies suggests that the flexibility and contextuality that characterized the enforcement of Islamic law in precolonial Islam is still to be found in legal practice as discussed by the authors, and that these ideas can be also found in the Islamist thought that subsequently spread among urban reformist movements and in legal reforms adopted in Pakistan.
Abstract: Influenced by Orientalist assumptions and Utilitarian ideals, and needing to enforce a system of adjudication that responded to their interests, the East India Company's officers selected among varied religious texts a set of norms and tried to apply them consistently. The decision to rely on texts rather than practice, the choice of certain precepts at the expense of others, and their rigid application ran counter to the traditional administration of justice, which had been fluid, contextual, and plural. They also distorted the meaning of Hanafi fikh, turning what had been an instrument of legitimation, a moral reference, and a source of social standing into a system of organized dispute settlement. The emphasis on religious textual sources and the attempt to use them as a basis for codification coincided with the idea, which gained ground in the nineteenth century among Muslim reformist movements, that political weakness could be countered by returning to a pristine scripturalist Islam, focused on its legal aspects and seen as a systematic doctrine devoid of ambiguities. These ideas can be also found in the Islamist thought that subsequently spread among urban reformist movements and in legal reforms adopted in Pakistan. A review of case studies, however, suggests that the flexibility and contextuality that characterized the enforcement of Islamic law in precolonial Islam is still to be found in legal practice.

39 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors investigates the illegal arms trade from the Gulf to the north-western Indian Frontier, an area of crucial importance for British imperial strategists and the Government of India, at a time of great power rivalry and a relative decline of Britain's global influence.
Abstract: Afghanistan is the country in the world with the most SALW (small arms and light weapons). Contrary to what is usually assumed, the proliferation of modern firearms in the country did not start in the 1980s, but at the end of the 19th century, when Pashtun tribes acquired modern rifles and ammunition through a variety of means, mostly through smuggling. The paper investigates the illegal arms trade from the Gulf to the north-western Indian Frontier, an area of crucial importance for British imperial strategists and the Government of India, at a time of great power rivalry and a relative decline of Britain’s global influence.

Cited by
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01 Jan 1995

1,882 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Utilitarians have usually been regarded as exponents of a moral theory, but in this work Dr Stokes lays emphasis on their claim to have developed a practical science of society as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Utilitarians have usually been regarded as exponents of a moral theory, but in this work Dr Stokes lays emphasis on their claim to have developed a practical science of society. Political failure caused their practical character to languish in England, but in India the Utilitarian principles won far greater success. He analyzes James Mill's influence as the London head of the Indian administration on Macaulay's Benthamite reforms and on Fitzjames Stephen's significance in the passage of Utilitarianism into Imperialism.

359 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: A History of Islamic Legal Theories: an Introduction to Sunni usul al-fiqh, by Wael Hallaq as discussed by the authors is a fine introduction to the most important sources of Islamic jurisprudence.
Abstract: A History of Islamic Legal Theories: an Introduction to Sunni usul al-fiqh, by Wael Hallaq. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ix + 262 pages. Refs. to p. 287. Index to p. 294. $59.95. Reviewed by Jonathan E. Brockopp As one of the leading figures in the academic study of Islamic law, Wael Hallaq has been working on the logical structure of Islamic jurisprudence for many years and has produced a series of important articles on al-Shafi'i. alGhazali, Abu Husayn al-Basri, and others, looking at central issues such as ijtihad, consensus and analogy. Many of these articles are usefully reprinted in Law and Legal Theory in Classical and Medieval Islam (Brookfield, VT: Variorum, 1994). Hallaq's other book, Ibn Taymiyya against the Greek Logicians (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) is a close study of this important jurist. Islamic Legal Theories is Hallaq's first statement as a mature, established scholar, and is a fine introduction to the most important sources of Islamic jurisprudence. After covering the first four centuries of Islamic law in chapter one, Hallaq moves to the heart of this book: a two-chapter summary of the development of Islamic legal theory since the Sth/il th century. Hallaq argues that there arose a common theoretical legal structure incorporating specific and limited variations. The remaining chapters build on this foundation in various ways. Chapter four addresses both the structural variations in Islamic legal theory and the various influences on the development of that theory. Chapter five looks particularly at the theoretical works of al-Shatibi (d. 790/1388), and chapter six addresses certain modern trends in Islamic legal theory. This final chapter, while restricted in its scope, offers some important new insights on the way some modern thinkers have struggled with their own tradition. A list of references and an index complete the book. Hallaq intends this book "to appeal to a wide readership both within and without the field of Islamic studies" (p. viii), yet certain decisions taken by the author severely limit its usefulness as an introduction. First, students of religion and comparative legal studies will be disappointed that the comparative aspects of Islamic legal theory are totally neglected in the text as well as in the apparatus. Second, the decision by the author (p. ix) to limit footnotes to an absolute minimum is problematic. In recent years, there has been extensive scholarship on subjects such as abrogation, ijtihad, and Rashid Rida. Some of this scholarship is found in the good. but by no means exhaustive, bibliography, but within the text itself the unsuspecting reader is often referred only to Hallaq's own works.' Undoubtedly, Hallaq knows the secondary literature; however, the lack of references may prove frustrating to the uninitiated. The first chapter is a very cursory overview of the formative period in Islamic law-the subject of much recent scholarship. Hallaq takes a surprisingly apologetic tone, accepting as self-evident what scholarship is only now struggling to understand. For instance, he writes that "the importance of the Qur'an and its injunctions for the early Muslims can hardly be overstated" (p. 7), and proves this by quoting an early Monophysite source wherein Abu Bakr paraphrases the Qur'an. That parts of the Qur'an were known and used in the first century is beyond dispute, but this does not prove that the Qur'an was understood as a legal book. Recent analysis of second-century legal documents demonstrates that the Qur'an provided neither the categories nor the content for early law. Furthermore, Hallaq refers to Andrew Rippin, Patricia Crone and Martin Hinds to support his contention that the early Caliphs used the Qur'an and the sunny in their legal rulings. Yet, these authors were much more circumspect in their claims than Hallaq suggests.2 Chapter one, therefore, presents a somewhat idiosyncratic view of early Islamic jurisprudence which does not advance our understanding of this period. …

123 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that, in addition to explaining patterns in cultural change and stability, SIE can account for the emergence of much group-functional culture and outline how this process can stifle or accelerate cultural group selection, depending on various social conditions.
Abstract: Rules regulating social behavior raise challenging questions about cultural evolution in part because they frequently confer group-level benefits. Current multilevel selection theories contend that between-group processes interact with within-group processes to produce norms and institutions, but within-group processes have remained underspecified, leading to a recent emphasis on cultural group selection as the primary driver of cultural design. Here we present the self-interested enforcement (SIE) hypothesis, which proposes that the design of rules importantly reflects the relative enforcement capacities of competing parties. We show that, in addition to explaining patterns in cultural change and stability, SIE can account for the emergence of much group-functional culture. We outline how this process can stifle or accelerate cultural group selection, depending on various social conditions. Self-interested enforcement has important bearings on the emergence, stability, and change of rules.

50 citations

Dissertation
14 May 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the way in which Pakistani and Indian states have legitimized their rule over the past sixty years is influenced by the legacy British colonialism, and that the path to progress for both nations lies in undergoing an ideational shift in the way the states legitimize their rule.
Abstract: This paper will argue that the way in which the Pakistani and Indian states have legitimized their rule over the past sixty year is influenced by the legacy British colonialism. This case is made by analyzing and contrasting the way pre-colonial empires legitimized their rule to the British Raj. This investigation has shown that the pre-colonial empires were accompanied by an ideology that sought legitimacy exclusively through the furthering of Dharma. Dharma in the context of state power meant the promotion of “good governance” that was specifically contingent on the fulfillment by the ruler of basic forms of citizenship rights. Absent in these pre-historic documents was an emphasis on “divine rights” or “absolutist” rule that was accorded to state authorities. As such, the administrative structures in India’s precolonial empires were highly decentralized and boasted many measures of checks-and-balances on the power wielded by the state. On the contrary, the British ruled India through an ideology that was tinted with a Euro-centric, racialist lens. This had the effect of delegitimizing the previous form of Indian rule and promoting a political culture in which post-enlightenment ideas founded on the premises of a powerful and coercive unitary state were imported to replace the pre-colonial political system of layered and shared power. But there was embargo on the export of rights of citizens of sovereign states to Europe’s colonies. This distortion of in ideas of state power and citizenship rights has had fundamental implications in post-colonial South Asia, resulting in a crisis of political legitimization that has plagued the Indian and Pakistani state for the past 60 years. Since this analysis has shown how ideas and discourse can affect the way states legitimize their rule, this paper concludes by arguing that the path to progress for both nations lies in undergoing an ideational shift in the way the states have legitimized their rule. 2 | S t a t e P o w e r a n d t h e C o l o n i a l M i n d s e t : D e f i n i n g s t a t e l e g i t i m a c y i n P o s t c o l o n i a l S o u t h A s i a Table of Contents I. Introduction.......................................................................................... 3-4 II. Pre-colonial India.............................................................................. 4-22 a. Aryan Empire...................................................................................... 5-9 b. The Gupta Empire............................................................................... 9-12 c. The Mughal Rule............................................................................... 12-20 Pre-colonial India: A synthesis........................................................................ 21-22 III. British India............................................................................................ 23 a. Company Raj..................................................................................... 23-27 b. Crown Raj ....................................................................................... 27-41 IV. Comparing Bharatvarsha to the British Raj................................................ 40-53 V. Pakistan and India: New nations, same hands, old problems................................. 54 a. Pakistan: Born out of blood and fire........................................................... 54-57 b. Case Study: The Bangladeshi Problem...................................................... 57-67 c. India: Facing the goliath of secular nationalism........................................... 67-76 d. Dissecting the Indian Problem................................................................ 76-83 VI. Conclusion.......................................................................................... 83-86 VII. Bibliography....................................................................................... 87-94 VIII. Appendix............................................................................................. 94 3 | S t a t e P o w e r a n d t h e C o l o n i a l M i n d s e t : D e f i n i n g s t a t e l e g i t i m a c y i n P o s t c o l o n i a l S o u t h A s i a I. Setting the Stage It was leading Indian nationalist Subhash Chandra Bose, who in the opening page of the Indian Struggle emphasized two features in understanding India: “First, that its history had to be reckoned not in decades or in centuries but in thousands of years’ and second, only under British rule India for the first time in her history had she begun to feel conquered” (Bose et al.8). Looking back at history, this argument seems to have accrued a significant amount of merit. After all, it was only after the culmination of the British Rule that the Indian subcontinent split into two different nation-states founded on premises antithetical of their historically defining features. Adding to that, whilst attempting to foster a different path for nationhood, India and Pakistan seem to have converged in the way their states have legitimized their rule. Since this form of legitimation has a colonial legacy, it comes to no surprise that both nations have been subjected to similar stresses and concerns as their colonizers. These include the constant shifts and fluctuations in the balance of power between centre and region and their difficulty in furthering the liberal and cohesive states that their founders set out to carve, causing in many ways a crisis in state legitimation. It is an intriguing, if not outright bold, statement to make such a claim in light of the fact that the Indian subcontinent has been subject to foreign invasions for thousands of years. Avoiding the risk of sounding overly reductionist, we are required to answer three important questions: Firstly, what exactly made the British different from all other invaders into India? Secondly, why is it that these differences had such a remarkable impact? Lastly, what has been their effect? To answer these questions, we will begin by investigating the political underpinnings that marked the dynasties that existed in pre-colonial India. These include the Aryan Empire, the 4 | S t a t e P o w e r a n d t h e C o l o n i a l M i n d s e t : D e f i n i n g s t a t e l e g i t i m a c y i n P o s t c o l o n i a l S o u t h A s i a Gupta Dynasty, and the Mughal Empire. Once we establish norms that are typical to all these three dynasties spanning over 2,000 years, we will contrast it with rule of the British Raj and attempt to draw conclusions for these aforementioned questions. II. Pre-Colonial India The political evolution of India is most often described in terms of four distinct stages: the formation of the Indo-Aryan community, the period of transition to dynastical monarchies and empires, a period of decentralization and decline, and the coming of colonialism (Chakrabarty, 14). In this section we will discuss the first three stages and commence our discussion of the first, Indo-Aryan stage. Before we commence with our specific investigation of the polities of pre-colonial India (especially the Vedic age), it deserves mention that there is a general paucity of historical documentation on this period. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, while much has been written in the 18 and 19 century on these pre-colonial kingships, revisionists in recent years have concluded that these were often obfuscated by Eurocentric biases. As we shall address in more detail in the proceeding sections, this particular time period saw an emergence of orientalist thought that sought to cast non-Western civilizations as “decadent” and “barbaric.” Due to this, a proper analysis of pre-colonial polities needs to be addressed through the use of primary resources. This brings us to our second point, namely that unlike the Western tradition, there is nothing comparable in detail to the early modes of codified charters and laws. As a matter of fact, up until the Aryan invasion, there is little to no written documentation available. As such, we are left with certain sacred texts that have been formulated in this time period that are primarily concerned with political thought. These primarily include the Vedas, the 5 | S t a t e P o w e r a n d t h e C o l o n i a l M i n d s e t : D e f i n i n g s t a t e l e g i t i m a c y i n P o s t c o l o n i a l S o u t h A s i a Manusmriti(also known as the Laws of Manu) Arthashastra, the Mahabharata which form the basis of ancient Indian statecraft. Aryan Rule: The dispersion of power It deserves mention here that when we speak of Aryan advances into the Indian civilization we mean not only to speak of it in terms of a “migration of certain peoples,” but as the extension of the Aryan way of life into the Indian subcontinent. Hence, in accepting Aryan modes of organization the native population became actively “Aryanized.” It serves for our purposes, thus, to emphasize the Aryans as a cultural group rather than simply a racial or ethnic group, whose cultural identity was nativized and established by about 3, 000 B.C (Derekmeier,17). Ruling ideology and administration While sources on this time period do not spell out distinct modes of administration, they help us understand how the ruling classes legitimized their rule. In order to trace that, we investigate what the early Vedas and the Mahabharata have to say about the “state of nature” and the social contract. We find the first description of a “social contract,” emanating from Aiyareya Bhramana that forms part of the Rigveda, based on a conversation between gods who blame their loss in a battle against the asuras (demons) as a result of a power vacuum in kingly authority (Fukuyama,153). As such, the go

43 citations