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Presenter: Professor Mohammad Shahabuddin, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
Discussant: Aminah Karim, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
The ideological function of the postcolonial 'national', 'liberal', and 'developmental' state inflicts various forms of marginalisation on minorities, but simultaneously justifies oppression in the name of national unity, equality and non-discrimination, and economic development. International law plays a central role in the ideological making of the postcolonial state in relation to postcolonial boundaries, the liberal-individualist architecture of rights, and the neoliberal economic vision of development. In this process, international law subjugates minority interests and in turn aggravates the problem of ethno-nationalism. This book analyses the geneses of ethno-nationalism in postcolonial states, substantiating these arguments with in-depth case studies on the Rohingya and the hill people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, against the historical backdrop of the minority question in Indian nationalist and constitutional discourse. The book also proposes alternative international law frameworks for minorities.
About the Speaker:
Mohammad Shahabuddin is Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham. He received a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (2018–20) for completing this monograph. His previous book, Ethnicity and International Law (Cambridge, 2016), offered the first ever comprehensive analysis of how ethnicity shaped international law.
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