Research output
Complete citation
Poljarevic, Emin. “Exploring the Islamic State.” Review article on Noah Feldman’s The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State. European Political Science 7, no. 4 (2008): 487–493. https://doi.org/10.1057/eps.2008.36.
Status
Published (2008)
Publication type
Scholarly review article
Overview
This review article examines Noah Feldman’s account of the historical Islamic constitutional order and his argument that the authority of Islamic law once constrained political rulers through an autonomous scholarly class. Feldman presents the modern aspiration for an Islamic state as partly a demand for accountable government and legal limitation, rather than simply theocratic rule. The review assesses this reconstruction of classical governance and its relevance to contemporary political institutions. It asks whether the historical relationship among rulers, jurists, law, and society can support the normative conclusions drawn from it, particularly after the modern state absorbed legislative and administrative authority. The article’s contribution is to frame debates about Islamic government around institutional accountability, legal authority, and political legitimacy while remaining attentive to the risks of idealising either premodern governance or present-day constitutional projects.
Research question or central concern
What can the historical relationship between Islamic law, juristic authority, and political rule contribute to contemporary debates about accountable government?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The article evaluates Feldman’s institutional history and normative argument, highlighting the constraining role attributed to jurists while questioning how that arrangement could be translated into the modern sovereign state.
Keywords
Islamic state; constitutionalism; Sharīʿa; jurists; accountability; political legitimacy; governance; Noah Feldman
Emin Poljarević 