Field Research on Law in Conflict Zones and Authoritarian States

Massoud, Mark Fathi

doi:10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084918

Cited by 29 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 116 publications

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“…The study of judges in military regimes presents specific methodological and ethical challenges. Scholars have affirmed the need for fieldwork, archival research, and ethnographic observations in authoritarian regimes, while acknowledging the importance of addressing the ethical and methodological challenges (Massoud 2016). Methodologically, I take a relational approach to studying judges 8 .…”

Section: On Methods: Studying Judges In Military Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar

Crouch¹

2022

Law Soc. Inq.

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While scholars have considered the role of courts in authoritarian regimes generally, less attention has been paid to judicial-military relations. In this article I consider how courts are militarized and made subordinate and loyal to military rule. In military regimes, the courts are at risk of militarization and the process of rendering judges loyal to the military through practices such as career path socialization, selection, and restructuring of the courts. This raises an entry-exit dilemma for judges. The dilemma lies in the fact that if judges committed to civilian rule do not join the bench, they are potentially leaving the judiciary to military partisans with little prospect for reform. Yet joining the judiciary means the danger of being co-opted and adding legitimacy to the military regime or the risk of being forced out if politics shifts from civilian to military rule. Through a case study of judicial profiles in Myanmar, I explore how the loyalty of judges to the military depends on whether they are military insiders, military affiliates, civilian affiliates, or civilian outsiders. The case of Myanmar is a vivid reminder to scholars of judicial behavior that in military authoritarian regimes, judges face an entry-exit dilemma.

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Section: On Methods: Studying Judges In Military Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar

Crouch¹

2022

Law Soc. Inq.

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“…These discussions relate to a slowly emerging body of scholarship on conducting fieldwork in dangerous areas. See Massoud (2016).…”

Section: Semi-structured Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Regulation of Informal Trade Credit (Ograyi) in Afghanistan

Choudhury¹

2021

AsianJLS

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This article explores the creation, circulation, and regulation of informal trade credit or “ograyi” in Afghanistan. The practice of ograyi allows businesses to access short-term credit, from either their suppliers or third parties, to acquire specified goods. This paper provides an account of the non-legal practices that regulate ograyi transactions. Ograyi vitally depends on the development of trust between parties. Clientelism helps to maintain stable relationships that can offset market unpredictability. Widespread market norms and practices establish the general behaviour of participants. Parties also renegotiate the terms of the contract if circumstances make it impossible for the creditor to repay the loan in the agreed timeframe. Furthermore, bank credit remains largely unavailable or unappealing to many businesses, and the legal system provides limited recourse in the case of contractual breach. Thus, the non-legal practices regulating ograyi serve as a substitute for legal coercion.

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“…In the rich body of scholarship that has arisen since Area 's special issue on research in ‘closed contexts’ published 10 years ago (Koch, 2013a), researchers have challenged the moralising assumptions of Western liberal perspectives in field methods in diverse ‘authoritarian’ settings (e.g., Ballvé, 2020; Ghosh, 2018; Glasius et al, 2018; Goode & Ahram, 2016; Hopman, 2021; Janenova, 2019; Koch, 2022; Massoud, 2016; Ryan & Tynen, 2020; Wolf, 2021; Wolfe, 2023). This work moves beyond essentialising binaries of space and subjects as authoritarian/democratic or illiberal/liberal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free speech or obedient speech? Revisiting liberal speech norms in ‘closed contexts’

Koch

2023

Area

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Qualitative researchers can usually discern the difference between obedient speech and fearless, critical, or oppositional speech. Yet the context in which speech acts are performed is necessarily uneven, such that the same people who might speak freely in one place are often quick to engage in obedient speech in another. Speech acts also depend on the speaker's positionality, meaning that some speakers may have the privilege to act as ‘truth‐tellers’ and speak freely, whereas the positionality of others does not enable this. This paper considers how these contextual factors can be overlooked when liberal speech norms are taken for granted. Engaging with Michel Foucault's writing on parrhesia, I highlight the issues of positionality and context in defining how socio‐political borders are drawn around free (‘fearless’) speech as opposed to obedient (‘performative’) speech. I show how parrhesia opens up key questions for qualitative research about the politicisation of free versus obedient speech through space and time.

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Field Research on Law in Conflict Zones and Authoritarian States

Cited by 29 publications

References 116 publications

Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar

Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar

The Regulation of Informal Trade Credit (Ograyi) in Afghanistan

Free speech or obedient speech? Revisiting liberal speech norms in ‘closed contexts’

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