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

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