13 Years After the Arab Spring: What are the Chances for Legitimate Constitutions in the Arab World?

13 Years After the Arab Spring: What are the Chances for Legitimate Constitutions in the Arab World?

This event will launch the special issue ‘Arab Constitutional Responses to the Revolutions and Transformations in the Region’ published in the Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa. It is a result of  a two year collaboration between the Carnegie supported, LSE based, Civicness in the Arab World research project and the Arab Association of Constitutional Law.

Dignity, equality, social justice and the end of tyranny are all linked to the principles upon which the state operates. The demands voiced by millions of Arab citizens since 2011 all pointed in the direction of the ‘constitution’. Within two years of the uprisings, seven new constitutions were written in six of the Arab countries. Several other constitutional processes raised hopes for addressing the legitimacy deficit in the region.

Now, 22 Arab scholars and experts have worked together to investigate the constitutional responses to the Arab Spring in ten different Arab countries including Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and many more.  The case studies examined in this special issue explore both the opportunities that were raised by the prospect of a constitutional change in the wake of the Arab Spring, as well as the many challenges they faced.

This event is starting early to accommodate the Ramadan timetable. There will be a light reception afterwards with the opportunity for attendees to break their fast and network. 

Meet the Speakers 

Rim Turkmani (@Rim_Turkmani) is a Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the LSE Middle East Centre and LSE IDEAS.  She is the Principal Investigator of the Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World research project. Her research focuses on legitimate governance in the Middle East with an emphasis on constitutional legitimacy and local conflict and peace drivers.

Nathan J. Brown is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of six books, co-author of four, and editor of four.  Among his works are The Rule of Law in the Arab World and Constitutions in a Non Constitutional World. 

Tamara El Khoury  is the Executive Director of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law, Editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa, and a constitutional expert at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law. She has been involved in constitutional and institutional reform processes in Libya, Jordan, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan, working extensively with both institutional actors and civil society organizations. Tamara teaches Constitutional Law at IE University in Madrid.

Azza Kamel Maghur is a Libyan lawyer, human rights activist, and constitutional law expert. Azza is known for defending political prisoners, advocating for human rights , including women’s rights, NGOs, and openly calling for a constitution in Libya. She spearheaded a legal committee to draft the law concerning NGOs and worked on further legislations, including the election law of 2012. Azza has published numerous legal articles in both Arabic and English.