Exploring the Foundations of US State-Level Anti-Sharia Initiatives
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2016
Department
History & Political Science
Abstract
In recent years, measures have been taken to ban the use of international legal principles in state courts. While these international laws vary in terms of the specific restrictions they place on state legal practices, many of these laws have been aimed implicitly or explicitly at banning Sharia law practices. While dozens of states have attempted to pass anti-Sharia policies, thus far, only eight have been successful. In this article, we apply a policy diffusion framework to help explain the agenda placement and adoption of these measures. We find that both internal state determinants and external regional diffusion factors influence the interstate agenda placement and adoption of anti-Sharia practices. However, the regional effect is negative, meaning that these policies follow an atypical diffusion pattern. This study adds to the growing body of literature that examines the diffusion of controversial morality policies. © 2016 Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.
DOI
10.1017/S1755048316000419
First Page
720
Last Page
743
Publication Title
Politics and Religion
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Joshua L., and Brendan Toner. "Exploring the Foundations of US State-Level Anti-Sharia Initiatives", Politics and Religion 9, no. 4, (2016): 720-743. doi:10.1017/S1755048316000419