Insurance Theory and Judicial Independence in Non-Democratic Polities: A Comparative Assessment of Their Preeminence in Medieval Islamic Polities and Decline in Contemporary Saudi Arabia

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

While academic works frequently assess the level of judicial independence in democratic states, there is insufficient analysis of whether the concept has any bearing in autocratic polities. By fusing independence theory and the Khaldunian notion of ‘asabiyyah (social solidarity), this dissertation aims to assess how Muslim scholars and judges activated the logic of insurance theory through their monopoly of the interpretation of the Shariah, which constituted the legal basis of medieval Muslim dynasties such as the Umayyad and Abbasid Empires. In sum, through this novel and multi-faceted mode of inquiry, this work determines that due to their assumption of a variety of executive and judicial duties, medieval Muslim scholars enjoyed strong privileges in the regulatory sphere and thereby posed as effective stabilizers in their respective polities. This ensured that the rulers’ sphere of control was moderated and effectively held to account. Furthermore, in an analogous fashion, Saudi jurists and justices played a strong and instrumental regulatory role in the Kingdom during the early years of the final iteration and modern version of the Saudi state. However, due to the Kingdom’s rapid advances in modernization and liberalization during the last two decades, the Saudi monarchy’s regulatory sphere has dramatically widened, and the power of the scholarly stratum has decreased. Ultimately, the balancing role and mechanism of insurance no longer operates in the Saudi setting; as many of the political changes introduced via modernization are well-entrenched, the possibility for any restoration of scholarly power appears unlikely.

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