Reports

Arab Legal Systems in Transition
Georgetown University
Washington, DC: April 5-6, 2001

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University held its 25th Annual Symposium to explore the ways in which legal systems in the Arab world are responding to changes in the global arena. The interdisciplinary conference was organized to bring together legal scholars, practitioners, and academics from different disciplines who are working on topics of legal reform.

In his keynote address, Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, a distinguished former diplomat and now director of the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University, analyzed some of the long-term structural and policy problems confronting the Middle East, and recommended far-reaching policy changes for the United States. He also addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict, speculating that lasting peace will only be secured with the creation of a viable and independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel.

Djerejian believes the United States should devote less attention to prolonging the "process" of peace and more toward the principles of the Madrid Conference, foremost of which are the "land for peace" U.N. resolutions, 242 and 338. Moreover, the U.S. should refocus much needed attention on developing the multilateral negotiations to generate possible resolutions to issues such as water, refugees, and Jerusalem. He criticized the Clinton administration’s approach as hasty and premature, suggesting that that approach played a significant role in shaping the current crisis.

George Bisharat of the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law surveyed the history of Palestinian legal education in a panel discussion on the state of the legal profession in the Arab world. He outlined the many challenges facing the four fledgling Palestinian law schools - at Al-Najah National University, Bir Zeit University, Al-Quds University and Al-Azhar University of Gaza - particularly the question of how best to prepare students to operate effectively in a legal system undergoing profound transformation. Prof. Bisharat noted the importance of considering the possible directions that Palestinian legal education might take in order to contribute to nation building.

The panel on "Women and the Law" raised many issues concerning legal structures related to gender, family, and personal status. Lama Abu-Odeh, an associate professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, examined the efforts by secularists in Egypt to reform family law and the limits placed on that reform by conservative defenders of the patriarchal system. She also discussed the need for feminists in the Arab world to be cautious about changing the nature of the marriage contract, and pointed out some of the potentially harmful implications for women of complete equality.

In the final panel on "New Legal Frameworks for Globalization," Marwan Kraidy of the University of North Dakota, warned that globalization could pose significant threats to the outdated legal frameworks of Arab states. He illustrated his point with the case of Lebanon’s main state television institution, Tele-Liban. The impact of the 1994 broadcasting law and the station’s transformation into a public/private hybrid, rather than completely one or the other, led to its failure in March of this year, according to Kraidy.

The luncheon speaker was M. Cherif Bassiouni of DePaul University, who discussed both historical and contemporary facets of Arab legal systems. The fundamental structural problem facing these systems today, according to Bassiouni, is the different sources of law (Islamic, Ottoman, European, and tribal), which have not built on each other toward a cohesive system. He also noted problems with judiciaries, whose weakness undermines the rule of law.

In his paper (presented by Eric A. Smith), Michael Schlesinger of the law firm of Smith & Metalitz (Washington, DC) highlighted the need for Arab states to update their regulations on copyright law if they are to benefit from the new information economy. The industries that rely so much on the region’s intellectual and artistic resources - such as media, publishing, recording, and software production - will continue to be harmed by piracy without additional protections.

Other panel topics included legal sources and theories, human rights, and business. A more detailed report about the conference is available on the CCAS website. CCAS plans to publish selected papers from the symposium in an edited volume next year.

For additional information, contact the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, ICC 241, Washington, DC 20057-1020, USA; phone (1-202)687-5793, fax (1-202) 687-7001, e-mail ccasinfo@gunet.georgetown.edu; website www.ccasonline.org.

Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East Spring 2001
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