Constitution writing, religion and democracy

Introduction / Asli U. Bali and Hanna Lerner -- The curious case of religion in the Norwegian Constitution / John Madeley -- Religion and the Japanese Constitution / Helen Hardacre -- Constitution making and religion in West Germany in the shadow of state failure / Tine Stein -- Secularism in a sectarian society : the divisive drafting of the 1926 Lebanese Constitution / Mark Farha -- The Constitution of a "laic" African and Muslim country : Senegal / Soulaymane Bachir Diagne -- Constitution writing and religious divisions in Turkey / Ergun Ozbudun -- Constitutionalism, Islamic law, and religious freedom in post-independent Indonesia / Mirjam Kunkler -- Cross-cutting rifts in constitutions and minority rights : India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka / Shylashri Shankar -- Islamic law in an Islamic Republic : what role for parliament? / Matthew Nelson -- Constitutional impasse, democracy and religion in Israel / Hanna Lerner -- Islam and constitutionalism in the Arab world : the puzzling course of Islamic inflation / Nathan Brown -- The politics of sacred paralysis : Islam in recent Moroccan and North African constitutions / David Mednicoff -- Dancing by the cliff : constitution writing in post-revolutionary Tunisia, 2011-2014 / Nadia Marzouki -- Designing constitutions in religiously divided societies / Asli U. Bali and Hanna Lerner.

What role do and should constitutions play in mitigating intense disagreements over the religious character of a state? And what kind of constitutional solutions might reconcile democracy with the type of religious demands raised in contemporary democratising or democratic states? Tensions over religion-state relations are gaining increasing salience in constitution writing and rewriting around the world. This book explores the challenge of crafting a democratic constitution under conditions of deep disagreement over a state's religious or secular identity. It draws on a broad range of relevant case studies of past and current constitutional debates in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and offers valuable lessons for societies soon to embark on constitution drafting or amendment processes where religion is an issue of contention