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List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Postcolonial legality: fragments of the rule of law and constitutionalism; 3. Martial rule: military¿bureaucratic authoritarianism and 'basic' constitutionalism; 4. Elective dictatorship: socialist populism and the myth of a consensus constitution; 5. Praetorian governmentality: Islamisation of laws and the genesis of substantive constitutionalism; 6. Indirect praetorianism: 'public interest litigation' and the first wave of judicial activism; 7. Military¿civil composite: 'military incorporated' and the 'lawyers' movement'; 8. Corporatist governance: the 'Chaudhry court' and 'judicial proactivism'; 9. Conclusion: judicialisation of politics in Pakistan.
About the author
Moeen Cheema is Associate Professor in Law and an Australian Research Council DECRA fellow at the Australian National University. He is recognised as one of the leading experts in the fields of constitutional law, judicial review, criminal justice reform and access to justice in Pakistan.
Summary
This book is of immense relevance to anyone interested in the history of public law, constitutional politics, legal system and state structure in Pakistan. It is also of significant interest to the scholars of the judicial power, comparative constitutional law, constitutionalism in Asia and comparative administrative law.
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'Moeen Cheema's account of the Pakistani judiciary's evolution into a key actor in what Ran Hirschl calls constitutional “mega-politics” is thoughtful, rigorous and informative. Its contribution to scholarship is not restricted to Pakistani or subcontinental constitutionalism alone. This study of the dramatic growth of judicial power in a context that has oscillated between military, quasi-military and hybrid-civil regimes is a serious provocation to a field that continues to debate the legitimacy of judicial review largely within the narrow confines of the “counter-majoritarian difficulty” in democratic regimes. The book's historical institutionalist method offers rich insights for appreciating how courts, as strategic constitutional institutions, manage not only to survive and but also to thrive in seemingly inhospitable ground.' Tarunabh Khaitan, Head of Research, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Oxford
