The Wheel of Law: India's Secularism in Comparative Constitutional Context

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Princeton University Press, 2003 - History - 324 pages

How can religious liberty be guaranteed in societies where religion pervades everyday life? In The Wheel of Law, Gary Jacobsohn addresses this dilemma by examining the constitutional development of secularism in India within an unprecedented cross-national framework that includes Israel and the United States. He argues that a country's particular constitutional theory and practice must be understood within its social and political context. The experience of India, where religious life is in profound tension with secular democratic commitment, offers a valuable perspective not only on questions of jurisprudence and political theory arising in countries where religion permeates the fabric of society, but also on the broader task of ensuring religious liberty in constitutional polities.

India's social structure is so entwined with religion, Jacobsohn emphasizes, that meaningful social reform presupposes state intervention in the spiritual domain. Hence India's "ameliorative" model of secular constitutionalism, designed to ameliorate the disabling effects of the caste system and other religiously based practices. Jacobsohn contrasts this with the "visionary" secularism of Israel, where the state identifies itself with a particular religion, and with America's "assimilative" secularism.

Constitutional globalization is as much a reality as economic globalization, Jacobsohn concludes, and within this phenomenon the place of religion in liberal democracy is among the most vexing challenges confronting us today. A richly textured account of the Indian experience with secularism, developed in a broad comparative framework, this book is for all those seeking ways to respond to this challenge.

 

Contents

III
3
IV
21
VI
23
VIII
56
IX
59
X
74
XI
90
XII
93
XXXII
191
XXXIV
193
XXXV
199
XXXVI
204
XXXVII
208
XXXVIII
211
XXXIX
213
XL
215

XIII
97
XIV
106
XV
113
XVI
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XVII
125
XVIII
127
XIX
131
XX
135
XXI
140
XXII
147
XXIII
159
XXIV
163
XXVI
165
XXVII
173
XXVIII
174
XXIX
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XXX
182
XXXI
187
XLI
218
XLII
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XLIII
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XLV
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XLVI
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XLVII
241
XLVIII
248
XLIX
251
L
253
LI
255
LII
264
LIII
267
LIV
270
LV
285
LVI
293
LVII
313
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About the author (2003)

Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn is Fred Greene Third Century Professor of Jurisprudence and Politics at Williams College. He is the author of Apple of Gold (Princeton), The Supreme Court and the Decline of Constitutional Aspiration, and Pragmatism, Statesmanship, and the Supreme Court.