This set of essays engages with some aspects of Foucault's notion of governmentality, particularly at the junction where law/regulation meets the social. The social, as a special sphere of government, is a special area of concern for those working within broad intellectual spaces of the governmentality approach. Is it the basis of modern liberal systems of government? Is it dead, or even feeling unwell? Has it spawned hybrid forms of government like neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, or even neo-socialism? In making their presence felt in the debates that have flourished around such questions,...

In recent decades, the debate among scholars, lawyers, politicians, and others about how societies deal with their past has been constant and intensive. Legal Institutions and Collective Memories situates the processes of transitional justice at the intersection between legal procedures and the production of collective and shared meanings of the past. Building upon the work of Maurice Halbwachs, this collection of essays emphasizes the extended role and active involvement of contemporary law and legal institutions in public discourse about the past, and explores their impact on the shape that...

Socio-legal researchers increasingly recognize the need to employ a wide variety of methods in studying law and legal phenomena, and that this needs to be informed by an understanding of debates about theory and method in mainstream social science. This collection illustrates how a range of topics, including EU law, ombudsmen, judges, lawyers, Shariah Councils, and the quality assurance industry can be researched from a socio-legal perspective. The objective of the collection is not, however, simply to present an interesting set of papers, but to use them to explore how different methods can...

In recent decades, the debate among scholars, lawyers, politicians, and others about how societies deal with their past has been constant and intensive. Legal Institutions and Collective Memories situates the processes of transitional justice at the intersection between legal procedures and the production of collective and shared meanings of the past. Building upon the work of Maurice Halbwachs, this collection of essays emphasizes the extended role and active involvement of contemporary law and legal institutions in public discourse about the past, and explores their impact on the shape that...

In comparing existing research on Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, it is clear that legal developments in East and South Asian societies are somewhat under-researched. What this book contributes to the debate is an -area study- - interdisciplinary research pertaining to a particular geographical or cultural region. The region discussed here presents an ideal testing ground for legal pluralism, and for economic, cultural, and political influences on the role of law in development. The 'developmental states' of Asia are regarded as refuting both Latin American...

Can there be such a thing as a European sociology of law? The uncertainties which arise when attempting to answer that straightforward question are the subject of this collection, which also overlaps into comparative law, legal history, and legal philosophy. The richness of approaches reflected in the essays - including comparisons with the US - show the present state of socio-legal studies in Europe and map directions for its future development. Certainly we already know something about the existence of differences in the use and meaning of law within and between the nation states and groups...

This book examines the phenomenon of crafting transnational policing, defined as the different forms of engagement in policing reform by international donors, national governments, foreign police, and law enforcement agencies in the domestic policing agencies and programs of recipient countries. It includes peacekeeping in post-conflict situations, reconstruction and capacity building as part of nation- or state-building exercises, and the provision of technical assistance in relation to certain aspects of law enforcement. In each instance, there is a cross-border provision of resources with...

Across the world, political liberalism is being fought for, consolidated, and defended. Nations that have never enjoyed a liberal political society are constrained or inspired by international institutions to create one. Nations that have advanced towards and then retreated from political liberalism are pressed to regain lost ground. Nations that have recently shifted from authoritarian to liberal political systems are encouraged to lock in the transition through institutions and constitutions. Mature democracies are being encouraged to recover diminished freedoms in the face of terrorism and...

This collection is the first comparative and interdisciplinary study of constitutional politics and constitution-making in the Middle East. The historical background and setting are fully explored in two substantial essays placing the contemporary experience in the contexts, respectively, of the ancient Middle Eastern legal and political tradition, and of the 19th- and 20th-century legal codification and political modernization. These are followed by a general analysis of the treatment of human rights in relation to Islam in Middle Eastern constitutions, as well as a comparative scrutiny of...

Relationships between adult partners following divorce or separation can be fragile, and the issues which have divided the parents are often hard to disentangle from the ongoing relationships between parents and children. Many have ongoing difficulty and need professional help and legal intervention to make arrangements for ongoing parenting. Parenting after Partnering brings together a wealth of new empirical research from the US, Europe, and Australia on the nature and importance of children's relationships with parents after parental separation, on the kinds of conflicts which develop, and...