Nimer Sultany (Hebrew: נימר סולטני) is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, the author of two books on the situation of Palestinian citizens of that country, and a work on constitutional theory and Arab countries. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian and Jadaliyya.
Biography
Sultany was born in Tira. He earned a Master's degree in law at Tel Aviv University. In the early 2000s he was coordinator of the Political Monitoring Project at the Haifa-based Arab Center for Applied Social Research-Mada. After another master's degree in Law from the University of Virginia, he enrolled in Harvard Law School where he obtained a Doctorate in Juridical Science (SJD), the most advanced law degree of its kind. At present he is Reader in Public law at SOAS in London.
In 2017 Oxford University Press published his major theoretical study Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring, which was awarded the inaugural ICON-S book prize in 2018.
Law and Revolution
Sultany's book is divided into three parts. In each, revolutions are examined in terms of a concept of legitimacy, legality and constitutionalism. His starting point is to analyse and challenge Nathan Brown's view that the dominant polity of the Arab world is one of "constitutions without constitutionalism".
Notes
↑"Over the past century and a half, the Arab world has grown rich in constitutions – documents that spell out the basic legal framework for governing – without growing richer in constitutionalisms-limited and accounted government. Basic laws have proliferated but few Arab governments have been restricted in their authority by them." (Brown 2012, p.xiv)
Sultany, Nimer (2003). Citizens Without Citizenship: Israel and the Palestinian Minority, 2000-2002. Haifa: Mada al-Carmel Arab Center for Applied Social Research. ISBN978-9-659-05731-3.
Sultany, Nimer (2005). Israel And the Palestinian Minority 2004. Mada al-Carmel Arab Center for Applied Social Research. ISBN978-9-657-30802-8.
Sultany, Nimer (Winter 2012). "The Making of an Underclass: The Palestinian Citizens in Israel". Israel Studies Review. 27 (2): 190–200. JSTOR41804808.
