Center Journals

In the life of the human individual, culture has an effect whose reach cannot be accurately gauged nor denied. Children enter the world without preconceived ideas and without culture. Their personalities, behaviors, views, values, and beliefs are formed by the culture which surrounds them. Culture's control over people is so strong that it makes them submit to its imperatives and prohibitions, even against their instincts.

Al- Ghali offers an in-depth analysis of Morocco’s constitution in light of the Arab Spring stressing the complex structure of a constitution that balances three key factors: authority, values, and wealth. Constitutions also arrange political interactions and the balance of powers through basic principles that dictate the rules of the game between the various systems of governance, both direct and indirect. This leaves the constitution open to interpretation and exegesis, taking into account issues such as space and time and the imbalances of power. In this regard, a constitutional draft, in its static definition, does not mean the formation of fixed principles that govern an ever-changing and dynamic field. Rather, it is a flexible structure that not only contains control mechanisms for the proper functioning of constitutional bodies, but also maintains the balance between them. Against this backdrop, and following an analysis of various constitutional drafts, al-Ghali presents an analytical model for the determination and comparison of permanence and change within Morocco’s 2011 constitutional reform.

This lecture was delivered at the Sport Literary Club in Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza, and Lid in memory of the eminent social reformer Jamal al-Din al-Afghani on the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The author thought it fitting to print and publish it to inspire readers with the biography of Jamal al-Din to work for the progress of all and for his message to stimulate them to emulate his struggle.

This study examines the new text of the Moroccan constitution, drafted in 2011, and analyzes both the context in which it arose and its formulation. Underlying this analysis is the premise that Moroccan constitutional legislators did not completely break from the previous constitutions. Under the new constitution, the monarchy has preserved its pivotal position within the constitutional structure while the authority controlled by the other three constitutional powers – the Parliament, the Cabinet, and the Judiciary – has expanded. This implies that no fundamental changes have been made to the deep-rooted structure of the division of powers, drawn up following Morocco’s first constitutional draft in 1962. Morocco’s new constitution has not been finalized, and needs time for it to be not only applicable, but also suitable. In order to avoid excessive inference into the constitutional text and further misunderstandings, this study has focused on an analysis of constitutional texts rather than analyzing the issue from a political science perspective.

This study examines the extent to which Syria’s permanent constitution, which came into force in 1973, embodies the notion of a state based on the rule of law. By analyzing its 1973 text, the author focuses on constitutional references to justice, totality, and equality in citizenship; the “general popular will”; supremacy of the rule of law and the division of powers; and judicial oversight over the executive. Throughout his analysis, Haweja seeks to demonstrate the way in which the new Syrian constitution, drafted in 2012, and also known as the “the Crisis Constitution,” does not represent a meaningful change to that written in 1973. This, despite the fact that it contradicted Article 8 of the 1973 text which placed the leadership of the Arab Socialist Baath Party in the hands of “the people and society”, and in spite of its attempt to rid itself of the nationalist and socialist ideological phrasing embedded in the wording and the preamble to the 1973 Constitution. For Haweja, the success of Syria’s new constitution remains questionable when considering it replicates the previous one, and reflects an authoritarian model in the midst of sharp societal divisions. Haweja stresses that the new text also lacks the fundamentals of a social contract and government vision to which the country can aspire. Syrians’ aspirations are based on the notion that such a social contract, and government action plan, can pave the way to social advancement and human prosperity.

This study investigates the historical and politico-philosophical origins of the rise of “tolerance” in the West. To this end, Abdelali delves into the ecclesiastical root of the word in the writings of St. Augustine and, later, Martin Luther. Further, he looks into the formation of the concept of tolerance in its various manifestations, such as the Edict of Nantes, the Pacification of Ghent, and the Declaration of Indulgence. These developments took place before “tolerance” came to take political and philosophical meanings, such as it does in John Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration. It was in this secular formulation that tolerance was tied to a liberal school of thought that promoted the separation between religious and secular authorities; the “neutrality” of the state on religious beliefs; and the conceptualization of a neutral sphere not subject to the pressures of religion and belief—the sphere of liberty. Taking in contemporary, post-modern understandings of the concept of tolerance, the study also presents the ideas of communitarian political thinker Michael Walzer in contrast to the approach toward Liberalism represented by philosopher John Rawls.

Democratic deficit is a term synonymous with democratic intractability, a chronic intractability that cannot be overcome, as demonstrated by the fact that despite the global transformations, regional and domestic, the Arab homeland has not budged or taken any meaningful step towards democracy, despite the transition of around 40 of the world's states into democratic regimes since the end of the Cold War. The authoritarian state is still operating by means of oppressive agencies to preserve the submission of society in this region of the world.