Legislation and legitimation in Oman: the Basic Law
Contenu
- Titre
- Legislation and legitimation in Oman: the Basic Law
- Auteur
- Siegfried, Nikolaus
- Date
- 2000
- Résumé
- When Sultan Qabus issued Decree 101 on November 6, 1996, Oman was the last Arab country to implement a constitutional document. However, the political impact of this document is controversial: Whereas some consider the Basic Law a step towards democratization, others see merely a continuation of traditional policies. In this article I investigate the innovative potential of the Basic Law. Against the background of Omani and regional history and European and Islamic constitutional thought, I review the Decree with regard to authority and legitimation. I suggest that the law is mainly symbolic in character. It exploits tribal and Islamic concepts to create a historically unfounded notion of a homogeneous state. The civil liberties it grants do not extend to the public sphere. I conclude that Oman's Basic Law does nothing more than to freeze the status quo, according to which the Sultan remains the only recognized authority in the state.
- Langue
- eng
- volume
- 7
- numéro
- 3
- pages
- 359-397
- doi
- 10.1163/156851900507689
- issn
- 0928-9380, 1568-5195
Position : 39740 (12 vues)