Islam and Data Science Roundup

  • In “Islam-based legal language and state governance: democracy, strength of the judiciary and human rights” (Constitutional Political Economy (2020)), Emilia Justyna Powell (University of Notre Dame) and her coauthors test the hypothesis of whether Islamic legal language is associated with lower levels of electoral democracy, fewer liberties, and a weaker judicial system. Based on an original data set covering 29 countries from 2001 to 2012, the authors find that “Islam-based legal language is not associated with a weak judiciary or the absence of political liberties.” However, their study also concludes that “subconstitutional—particularly legislative—commitments to Islam-based legal language” are often associated with the described outcomes of the hypothesis.

Leave a Reply