Author: Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113503835X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
Nation, Constitutionalism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka offers a new perspective on contemporary debates about Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka. In this book de Silva Wijeyeratne argues forcefully that ‘Sinhalese Buddhism’ in the period prior to its engagement with the British colonial State signified a relatively unbounded (although at times boundary forming) set of practices that facilitated both the inclusion and exclusion of non-‘Buddhist’ concepts and people within a particular cosmological frame. Juxtaposing the premodern against the backdrop of colonial modernity, de Silva Wijeyeratne tells us that in contrast modern 'Sinhalese Buddhism/nationalism' is a much more reified and bounded concept, one imagined through a 19th century epistemology whose purpose was not so much inclusion, but a much more radical exclusion of non-‘Buddhist’ ideas and people. In this insightful analysis modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, then, emerges through the conjunction of discourse, power and knowledge at a distinct moment in the trajectory of the colonial State. An intrinsic feature of this modernist moment is that premodern categories (such as the cosmic order) were subject to a bureaucratic re-valuation that generated profound consequences for State-society relations and the wider constitutional/legal imaginary. This book goes onto explore how key constitutional and nation-building moments were framed within the cultural milieu of modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism – a nationalism that reveals the power of a re-valued Buddhist cosmic order to still inform the present. Given the intensification of the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist project following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, this book is of interest to scholars of nationalism, South Asian studies, the anthropology of ritual, and comparative legal history.
Author: Benjamin Schonthal
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107152232
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 319
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Book Description
Examining Sri Lanka's religious and legal pasts, this is the first extended study of Buddhism and constitutional law.
Author: Dian A. H. Shah
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107183340
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
Shah uncovers the complex interaction between constitutional law, religion and politics in three key plural societies in Asia.
Author: Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135038341
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
Nation, Constitutionalism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka offers a new perspective on contemporary debates about Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka. In this book de Silva Wijeyeratne argues forcefully that ‘Sinhalese Buddhism’ in the period prior to its engagement with the British colonial State signified a relatively unbounded (although at times boundary forming) set of practices that facilitated both the inclusion and exclusion of non-‘Buddhist’ concepts and people within a particular cosmological frame. Juxtaposing the premodern against the backdrop of colonial modernity, de Silva Wijeyeratne tells us that in contrast modern 'Sinhalese Buddhism/nationalism' is a much more reified and bounded concept, one imagined through a 19th century epistemology whose purpose was not so much inclusion, but a much more radical exclusion of non-‘Buddhist’ ideas and people. In this insightful analysis modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, then, emerges through the conjunction of discourse, power and knowledge at a distinct moment in the trajectory of the colonial State. An intrinsic feature of this modernist moment is that premodern categories (such as the cosmic order) were subject to a bureaucratic re-valuation that generated profound consequences for State-society relations and the wider constitutional/legal imaginary. This book goes onto explore how key constitutional and nation-building moments were framed within the cultural milieu of modern Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism – a nationalism that reveals the power of a re-valued Buddhist cosmic order to still inform the present. Given the intensification of the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist project following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, this book is of interest to scholars of nationalism, South Asian studies, the anthropology of ritual, and comparative legal history.
Author: Subhash Chandra Nayak
Publisher: Virago Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
An Indepth Study Of An Historical Perspective On `Ethnicity And Nation Building In Sri Lanka`. Has 5 Chapters Followed By Conclusions And A Bibliography. The Work Posits The `State` As A Central Explanatory Variable In Accounting For Identity Formulation And Nationality Formation Which Has Accounted For The Process Of Nation Building.
Author: Mark Tushnet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107068959
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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Book Description
This book examines constitutional law and practice in five South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Author: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022624850X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 361
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Book Description
Religious freedom has achieved broad consensus as a condition for peace. Faced with reports of a rise in religious violence and a host of other social ills, public, and private actors have responded with laws and policies designed to promote freedom of religion. But what precisely is being promoted? What are the assumptions underlying this response? The contributions to this volume unsettle the assumption that religious freedom is a singular achievement and that the problem lies in its incomplete accomplishment. Delineating the different conceptions of religious freedom predominant in the world today, as well as their histories and political contexts, the contributions make clear that the reasons for violence and discrimination are more complex than is widely acknowledged. The promotion of a single legal and cultural tool meant to address conflict across a wide variety of cultures can have the perverse effect of exacerbating the problems that plague the communities often cited as falling short. -- from back cover.
Author: Sunil Khilnani
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780199466603
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Despite their divergent recent histories and political experiences, there is a remarkable degree of constitutional and legal kinship among the South Asian countries. Yet for long legal communities in these countries were in the habit of looking to the West for statutory modelling and jurisprudential innovation. They are, however, now increasingly reacting to and engaging with constitutional law developments in the neighbouring countries of the region. This pioneering volume maps out the intellectual and historical contours of this little-studied field, yet one that is critical to South Asias future: the mutual borrowing, citing, and dialogue across the constitutional jurisdictions of South Asia. This nascent but significant development provides the basis, the volume argues, for a distinct comparative constitutionalism focused on the South Asian region. The essays collected here examine whether the experience so far of comparative law across South Asia offers insight into broader trends in constitutionalism, and also ask how the corpus of general comparative constitutional law might benefit from greater familiarity with the South Asian experience. The contributors are broad and diverse in their outlook and experience, and their contributions cover a wide range of contemporary constitutional developments in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The topics addressed include substantive issues such as: the interface of law and religion and models of secularism in specific South Asian jurisdictions; the challenges confronted by public interest lawyers in championing their causes across courts in South Asia; and the evolution of constitutionalism in smaller South Asian polities over time. Additionally, some chapters focus on methodological and related challenges to fostering deeper dialogue in the field of constitutional law across South Asian nations.
Author: Iselin Frydenlund
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9813298847
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
This book is the first to critically analyze Buddhist-Muslim relations in Theravada Buddhist majority states in South and Southeast Asia. Asia is home to the largest population of Buddhists and Muslims. In recent years, this interfaith communal living has incurred conflicts, such as the ethnic-religious conflicts in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Experts from around the world collaborate to provide a comprehensive look into religious pluralism and religious violence. The book is divided into two sections. The first section provides historical background to the three countries with the largest Buddhist-Muslim relations. The second section has chapters that focus on specific encounters between Buddhists and Muslims, which includes anti-Buddhist sentiments in Bangladesh, the role of gender in Muslim-Buddhist relations and the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya sentiments in Myanmar. By exploring historical fluctuations over time—paying particular attention to how state-formations condition Muslim-Buddhist entanglements—the book shows the processual and relational aspects of religious identity constructions and Buddhist-Muslim interactions in Theravada Buddhist majority states.
Author: Rebecca Redwood French
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521515793
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 409
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Book Description
This volume challenges the concept of Buddhism as an apolitical religion without implications for law.
