Social Difference and Constitutionalism in Pan-Asia

In many countries social differences such as religion or race and ethnicity threaten the stability of the social and legal order. This book addresses the role of constitutions and constitutionalism in dealing with the challenge of difference. The book brings together lawyers political scientists historians religious studies scholars and area studies experts to consider how constitutions address issues of difference across Pan-Asia a wide swath of the world that runs from the Middle East through Asia and into Oceania. The book''s multidisciplinary and comparative approach makes it unique. The book is organized into five sections each devoted to constitutional approaches to a particular type of difference religion ethnicity/race urban/rural divisions language and gender and sexual orientation in two or more countries in Pan Asia. The introduction offers a framework for thinking comprehensively about the many ways constitutionalism interacts with difference.