Winner of IBP 2009 Dissertations Social Sciences

Iza Hussin, 'The Politics of Islamic Law: Local Elites and Colonial Authority in Malaya, India and Eygpt'.

Hussin's work is original and significant for three reasons. First, it addresses a key issue in contemporary society where Islam has a significant presence: how the boundary between the public/state and the private/religious is necessitated, negotiated, or even imposed. Second, it deals with a persistent problem in modern state building where a compromise of some kind seems to be inevitable between the rule of law and citizenship on the one hand and mixed identities and attachments on the other that require preferential treatment. Third, it fills in the gap in our understanding of Islamic law which has been dominated by the monolithic view. Hussin's work makes an excellent contribution to our understanding of a key aspect of modern state building in the Islamic world.

Shortlist IBP 2009 Dissertations Social Sciences

Ulla Fionna, 'Building Political Parties from the Bottom up: A Case Study of Four Parties’ Branch Management in Malang, Indonesia'.