Intellectual Communities

This paper attempts to look at the production of Knowledge, its transmission and fashioning of intellectual community in Mughal North India. In Mughal India, like in the Central Islamic Lands, Madaris were institutions of higher learning where education was organized and imparted in a broader Islamic framework. Ulema, who considered themselves as the custodians of learning, played central role in the production and transmission of knowledge. In Medieval India, the world of learning became a complex religio-political system, packed with tension and conflict as a result of constant ramifications in intellectual system by the scholars of variegated persuasions, and interface with the state. At one level, knowledge was shared and transmitted in an attempt to define the types of collectivities with which ulema identified themselves and through which they tried to act upon. In fact, in their ideal self-image, they embodied the values of the community and saw their work as a collective enterprise. They were attached to a particular school of law which assured continuity and stability both in education and in doctrine. Through the affiliation, a scholar became connected with a wide range of professional and social networks. While defining a collectivity, through the production of knowledge (including institution based, scholarly work, discussion and disputation), they sought state " s support to strengthen it. The state, depending upon political pragmatism, played its part to seek legitimacy. The world of learning was not homogeneous; it had distinctions and categories in itself which were determined by the factors such as motives behind acquisition and transmission of knowledge, association with the state and notables, and more importantly on the issue of the transmission of a particular branch of knowledge.

Uses the case of Israel to examine the circumstances that lead national courts to engage heated political issues.

Patricia J. Woods examines a controversial issue in the politics of many countries around the world: the increasing role that courts and justices have played in deeply charged political battles. Through an extensive case study of the religious-secular conflict in Israel, she argues that the most important determining factor explaining when, why, and how national courts enter into the world of divisive politics is found in the intellectual or judicial communities with whom justices live, work, and think about the law on a daily basis. The interaction among members of this community, Woods maintains, is an organic, sociological process of intellectual exchange that over time culminates in new legal norms that may, through court cases, become binding legal principles. Given the right conditions—electoral democracy, basic judicial independence, and some institutional constraints—courts may use these new legal norms as the basis for a jurisprudence that justifies hearing controversial cases and allows for creative answers to major issues of national political contention.

“Her study of Israeli judicial politics is shrewd, sophisticated, culturally sensitive, and historically grounded … Judicial Power and National Politics is a welcome addition to the scholarship on comparative judicial politics, and Patricia Woods is a welcome new voice in the field … The impact of her work will cut across subfields and enrich the political science discipline.” — The Law and Politics Book Review

“This well-written book makes an important contribution by pushing the analysis of the controversies surrounding judicial intervention/activism to take ideas seriously. It provides a very persuasive account of Israel’s High Court of Justice’s involvement in religious issues and the key role of the judicial community in precipitating that involvement. At the same time, Woods attends to the roles of institutional factors and social movements in facilitating the controversial rights actions/decisions of the HCJ. This book is a must read for scholars of law and politics.” — Austin Sarat, Amherst College

“The author’s notion of an extended judicial community of judges, academic lawyers, and cause lawyers is a major move forward in the ‘new institutionalism’ in the study of law and courts.” — Martin Shapiro, Boalt Law School, University of California at Berkeley

Patricia J. Woods is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida.