Matthew J Nelson
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 182648 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Matthew J Nelson |
| NOMBRES | Matthew J |
| APELLIDO | Nelson |
| FIRMA | NELSON M J |
| AFILIACIONES | SOAS University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1857-1317 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 27 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 36 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 27 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2006 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Pakistan in 2025
In Pakistan, events in 2025 largely served to consolidate the power of Pakistan’s hybrid civil–military (democratic–authoritarian) regime, led by Chief of the Army Staff Asim Munir, President Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. An ongoing political crackdown on supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, was paired with a 27th constitutional amendment that further politicized the appoin…
Pakistan in 2024
In 2024 Pakistan was focused on four I’s: (a) military and civilian pressure on former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf; (b) a constitutional amendment, facilitated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, aiming to reduce judicial independence; (c) the successful pursuit of a fresh bailout from the IMF that helped to stem inflation; and (d) expanding insurgencies in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochist…
Citation as representation
Introduction
Asia is a region of exceptional religious diversity, with many Muslim groups figuring prominently in that diversity.With more than 50 percent of the global Muslim population expected to live in Asia by 2050-indeed, with respect to Muslim population, four of the top five states will be in Asia (namely India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh)-understanding the past, present, and future of religious relations in Asia is a matter of increasing imp…
When crackdowns and cooptation fail
This article examines an evolving mix of constraints facing two key religious opposition forces in Bangladesh, namely, a modern Islamist political party known as the Jama'at-e-Islami (JI; Assembly of Islam) and a traditional madrasa-based social protest movement known as Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI; Protection of Islam). The article examines both 'external' constraints emanating from the country's ruling party, the Awami League (AL; People's League), as…
Eye movements as a measure of word comprehension deficits in primary progressive aphasia
The Politics of Muslim Identities in Asia
Explores the intersection between Islam and politics in contemporary Southeast Asia, South Asia and China Gives a comparative view of Asia’s diverse Muslim identities, looking at the complexity of identity politics and the instrumentalisation of religious difference that create social divides Situates the contemporary contestations of identity and belonging amid new waves of Islamic revivalism, ethnic nationalism and political repression Includes…
Will Muslim-Majority States Recognise the Afghan Taliban’s ‘Islamic’ Regime
The Taliban have taken control in Afghanistan. In doing so, they have achieved two of their three main goals, namely the removal of foreign troops and the revival of an Islamic Emirate
Pandemic Politics in South Asia
In South Asia, entrenched social and political cleavages involving Muslims or particular groups of Muslims have shaped state efforts to address the global Covid-19 pandemic: Hindu nationalists blamed Muslims for introducing the virus to India; anti-Covid lockdowns extended severe constraints on civil liberties in Muslim-majority Kashmir; anti-state mullahs protested public-health restrictions in Pakistan; Taliban insurgents used the virus as a pr…
Pandemic politics in South Asia
References to regime type figure prominently in analyses of the global COVID-19 pandemic and state responses to it: an 'authoritarian' transparency deficit in China allowed the pandemic to spread before disciplined bureaucratic intervention tackled it; 'democratic' openness left the United States vulnerable even as traditions of personal liberty and grassroots authority stifled a coordinated response. Within these analytical caricatures, or ideal…
Next Steps in the Study of Islam and Politics
During the past 20 years, scholars and policy makers have shown considerable interest in the politics of Islam.Area studies programmes-traditionally focused on East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America-have added new initiatives focused on the cross-regional world of Islam.Scholars have debated the analytical merits of terms like 'Islamism' to describe those who instrumentalise Islam to achieve state-based political ends.S…
From Foreign Text to Local Meaning
Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political scientists and scholars of comparative constitutional law have analyzed the transnational movement of constitutional ideas and norms, but the political processes through which the meaning of foreign p…
Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom
Building on current research regarding constitutional migration, this article shows how constitutional provisions protecting religious freedom ("subject to public order") arrived in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, not via colonial British or traditional Islamic sources-both explicitly rejected-but via deliberate constitutional borrowing from "anti-colonial" precursors in Ireland and, especially, India. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau's notion of "emp…
Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom
Although "rule of law" is often regarded as a solution for religious conflict, this article analyzes the role of legal processes and institutions in hardening boundaries and sharpening antagonisms among religious communities. Using case studies from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, we highlight four specific mechanisms through which legal procedures, structures, and instruments can further polarize already existing religious conflicts. T…
Nicolas Martin, Politics, Landlords and Islam in Pakistan
In his account of landlords and their politics in rural Pakistan (focusing on central Punjab), Nicolas Martin offers a wealth of ethnographic detail. From the homesickness of indentured child servants to clever forms of vote-rigging in local elections as well as notions of spiritual superiority mixed with social critique amongst the impoverished adepts of Sufi Islam, Martin brings fine-grained forms of analysis to bear on several familiar themes …
Measuring the Impact of Instruction in Intercultural Communication on Secondary Spanish Learners' Attitudes and Motivation
Many scholars have argued that an intercultural approach to foreign language instruction best reflects the inherent interconnectedness of language and culture. However, abundant evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach is lacking, particularly at the secondary level. This two‐year curricular experiment, which took place in two public high schools in the United States, investigated the impact of explicit instruction in intercultural commu…
Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy
If US policymakers did not fully understand before 2011 how important the so-called ‘Arab street’ is in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, they surely do by now. Whether this principle extends to other parts of the Muslim world is not yet clear, but in Pakistan, one of America's most important Muslim-majority allies, the effect of public opinion on the country's politics, including its foreign policy, may be critical. \n \nDespite …
Empires of Mud
It is rare to find a book about the history of Afghanistan (1979–2009) in which Kabul is not, in some way, the focus of attention. It is also rare to find a book about the recent politics of Afghanistan in which specific patterns of war-making are seen as, at least potentially, conducive to state-making. Antonio Giustozzi has written a very rare book—one in which the politics of Abdul Rashid Dostum in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif an…
Embracing the Ummah
Studies of student politics in Pakistan often focus on the competition between 'secular' and 'religious' student groups-for example, the leftward-leaning National Students Federation, regional parties with a broadly secular orientation like the Pakhtun Students Federation, the Islami Jamiat-e-Tuleba (Islamic Students Association), and sectarian groups like the (Shi'a) Imamia Students Organization. This paper describes the emergence of an increasi…
Islamism and Democracy in India
Persistent Legal Pluralism and the Challenge of Universal Human Rights
This essay examines a new report prepared by the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law (2009). The essay begins by accepting the basic argument of this report (an argument regarding the value of minimum human rights standards that leave a certain amount of room for plural legal orders) before going on to discuss three issues that the report leaves unreso…
Pakistan in 2009
Party-based political competition played an important part in shaping key events in Pakistan in 2009. This article examines the impact of party-based competition on the much-delayed restoration of Supreme Court Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, efforts to address (with U.S. assistance) Pakistan's growing Taliban-affiliated insurgency, and both federal and provincial economic policies. This article concludes that party-based competition wi…
Pakistan in 2008
Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and national elections in February 2008, Pakistan struggled to distance itself from the discredited military regime of President (General) Pervez Musharraf. Competition between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), once led by Benazir Bhutto and subsequently by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, however, threatened to thwart the caus…
Dealing with Difference
When is a modern religious education also a modern democratic education? Drawing on research conducted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (2003-2005), this question is addressed with reference to the views of those who draw upon the resources of local maktabs and madrasas to provide their children with religious and, more specifically, Islamic instruction. Within this group-a group that, I argue, constitutes a clear majority in Pakistan-concerns…
Religious Education in Non-Religious Schools
In both Pakistan and Bangladesh, most parents seek to provide their children with a ‘hybrid’ education, combining both religious and non-religious components (simultaneously). Keeping this in mind, scholars and policy makers with an interest in the relationship between education and citizenship – particularly insofar as this relationship is tied to the challenge of cultural diversity – would do well to focus more of their attention on competing e…
Muslims, Markets, and the Meaning of a “Good” Education in Pakistan
This paper examines the nature of local educational demands in Pakistan. I draw on a survey of parents in and around the city of Rawalpindi, and show that parents favor religious education, as opposed to secular education, far more than international education-sector reformers have generally been inclined to expect. This raises complex questions regarding the implications of “market-oriented” educational reforms in Pakistan and, possibly, other p…
Measuring the Impact of Instruction in Intercultural Communication on Secondary Spanish Learners' Attitudes and Motivation
Many scholars have argued that an intercultural approach to foreign language instruction best reflects the inherent interconnectedness of language and culture. However, abundant evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach is lacking, particularly at the secondary level. This two‐year curricular experiment, which took place in two public high schools in the United States, investigated the impact of explicit instruction in intercultural commu…
Embracing the Ummah
Studies of student politics in Pakistan often focus on the competition between 'secular' and 'religious' student groups-for example, the leftward-leaning National Students Federation, regional parties with a broadly secular orientation like the Pakhtun Students Federation, the Islami Jamiat-e-Tuleba (Islamic Students Association), and sectarian groups like the (Shi'a) Imamia Students Organization. This paper describes the emergence of an increasi…
Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom
Although "rule of law" is often regarded as a solution for religious conflict, this article analyzes the role of legal processes and institutions in hardening boundaries and sharpening antagonisms among religious communities. Using case studies from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, we highlight four specific mechanisms through which legal procedures, structures, and instruments can further polarize already existing religious conflicts. T…
Dealing with Difference
When is a modern religious education also a modern democratic education? Drawing on research conducted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (2003-2005), this question is addressed with reference to the views of those who draw upon the resources of local maktabs and madrasas to provide their children with religious and, more specifically, Islamic instruction. Within this group-a group that, I argue, constitutes a clear majority in Pakistan-concerns…
Pakistan in 2024
In 2024 Pakistan was focused on four I’s: (a) military and civilian pressure on former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf; (b) a constitutional amendment, facilitated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, aiming to reduce judicial independence; (c) the successful pursuit of a fresh bailout from the IMF that helped to stem inflation; and (d) expanding insurgencies in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochist…
Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom
Building on current research regarding constitutional migration, this article shows how constitutional provisions protecting religious freedom ("subject to public order") arrived in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, not via colonial British or traditional Islamic sources-both explicitly rejected-but via deliberate constitutional borrowing from "anti-colonial" precursors in Ireland and, especially, India. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau's notion of "emp…
Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy
If US policymakers did not fully understand before 2011 how important the so-called ‘Arab street’ is in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, they surely do by now. Whether this principle extends to other parts of the Muslim world is not yet clear, but in Pakistan, one of America's most important Muslim-majority allies, the effect of public opinion on the country's politics, including its foreign policy, may be critical. \n \nDespite …
Citation as representation
Nicolas Martin, Politics, Landlords and Islam in Pakistan
In his account of landlords and their politics in rural Pakistan (focusing on central Punjab), Nicolas Martin offers a wealth of ethnographic detail. From the homesickness of indentured child servants to clever forms of vote-rigging in local elections as well as notions of spiritual superiority mixed with social critique amongst the impoverished adepts of Sufi Islam, Martin brings fine-grained forms of analysis to bear on several familiar themes …
Persistent Legal Pluralism and the Challenge of Universal Human Rights
This essay examines a new report prepared by the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law (2009). The essay begins by accepting the basic argument of this report (an argument regarding the value of minimum human rights standards that leave a certain amount of room for plural legal orders) before going on to discuss three issues that the report leaves unreso…
Pakistan in 2009
Party-based political competition played an important part in shaping key events in Pakistan in 2009. This article examines the impact of party-based competition on the much-delayed restoration of Supreme Court Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, efforts to address (with U.S. assistance) Pakistan's growing Taliban-affiliated insurgency, and both federal and provincial economic policies. This article concludes that party-based competition wi…
Pakistan in 2008
Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and national elections in February 2008, Pakistan struggled to distance itself from the discredited military regime of President (General) Pervez Musharraf. Competition between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), once led by Benazir Bhutto and subsequently by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, however, threatened to thwart the caus…
Who speaks for Islam
Recognising that America's response to the events of 11 September would do well to maintain a sharp distinction between the ‘war on terror’ and a war ‘against Islam’, this article argues that American diplomatic rhetoric would benefit from an explicit effort to engage ‘frameworks of legitimacy’ within Islam, including the terms of Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic legal debate. The article examines the merits of such an approach in the context of…
Muslims, Markets, and the Meaning of a “Good” Education in Pakistan
This paper examines the nature of local educational demands in Pakistan. I draw on a survey of parents in and around the city of Rawalpindi, and show that parents favor religious education, as opposed to secular education, far more than international education-sector reformers have generally been inclined to expect. This raises complex questions regarding the implications of “market-oriented” educational reforms in Pakistan and, possibly, other p…
Who speaks for Islam
Recognising that America's response to the events of 11 September would do well to maintain a sharp distinction between the ‘war on terror’ and a war ‘against Islam’, this article argues that American diplomatic rhetoric would benefit from an explicit effort to engage ‘frameworks of legitimacy’ within Islam, including the terms of Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic legal debate. The article examines the merits of such an approach in the context of…
Religious Education in Non-Religious Schools
In both Pakistan and Bangladesh, most parents seek to provide their children with a ‘hybrid’ education, combining both religious and non-religious components (simultaneously). Keeping this in mind, scholars and policy makers with an interest in the relationship between education and citizenship – particularly insofar as this relationship is tied to the challenge of cultural diversity – would do well to focus more of their attention on competing e…
Pakistan in 2008
Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and national elections in February 2008, Pakistan struggled to distance itself from the discredited military regime of President (General) Pervez Musharraf. Competition between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), once led by Benazir Bhutto and subsequently by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by Nawaz Sharif, however, threatened to thwart the caus…
Dealing with Difference
When is a modern religious education also a modern democratic education? Drawing on research conducted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (2003-2005), this question is addressed with reference to the views of those who draw upon the resources of local maktabs and madrasas to provide their children with religious and, more specifically, Islamic instruction. Within this group-a group that, I argue, constitutes a clear majority in Pakistan-concerns…
Persistent Legal Pluralism and the Challenge of Universal Human Rights
This essay examines a new report prepared by the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law (2009). The essay begins by accepting the basic argument of this report (an argument regarding the value of minimum human rights standards that leave a certain amount of room for plural legal orders) before going on to discuss three issues that the report leaves unreso…
Pakistan in 2009
Party-based political competition played an important part in shaping key events in Pakistan in 2009. This article examines the impact of party-based competition on the much-delayed restoration of Supreme Court Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, efforts to address (with U.S. assistance) Pakistan's growing Taliban-affiliated insurgency, and both federal and provincial economic policies. This article concludes that party-based competition wi…
Empires of Mud
It is rare to find a book about the history of Afghanistan (1979–2009) in which Kabul is not, in some way, the focus of attention. It is also rare to find a book about the recent politics of Afghanistan in which specific patterns of war-making are seen as, at least potentially, conducive to state-making. Antonio Giustozzi has written a very rare book—one in which the politics of Abdul Rashid Dostum in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif an…
Embracing the Ummah
Studies of student politics in Pakistan often focus on the competition between 'secular' and 'religious' student groups-for example, the leftward-leaning National Students Federation, regional parties with a broadly secular orientation like the Pakhtun Students Federation, the Islami Jamiat-e-Tuleba (Islamic Students Association), and sectarian groups like the (Shi'a) Imamia Students Organization. This paper describes the emergence of an increasi…
Islamism and Democracy in India
Pakistan's Populist Foreign Policy
If US policymakers did not fully understand before 2011 how important the so-called ‘Arab street’ is in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, they surely do by now. Whether this principle extends to other parts of the Muslim world is not yet clear, but in Pakistan, one of America's most important Muslim-majority allies, the effect of public opinion on the country's politics, including its foreign policy, may be critical. \n \nDespite …
Measuring the Impact of Instruction in Intercultural Communication on Secondary Spanish Learners' Attitudes and Motivation
Many scholars have argued that an intercultural approach to foreign language instruction best reflects the inherent interconnectedness of language and culture. However, abundant evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach is lacking, particularly at the secondary level. This two‐year curricular experiment, which took place in two public high schools in the United States, investigated the impact of explicit instruction in intercultural commu…
Is the Rule of Law an Antidote for Religious Tension? The Promise and Peril of Judicializing Religious Freedom
Although "rule of law" is often regarded as a solution for religious conflict, this article analyzes the role of legal processes and institutions in hardening boundaries and sharpening antagonisms among religious communities. Using case studies from Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, we highlight four specific mechanisms through which legal procedures, structures, and instruments can further polarize already existing religious conflicts. T…
Nicolas Martin, Politics, Landlords and Islam in Pakistan
In his account of landlords and their politics in rural Pakistan (focusing on central Punjab), Nicolas Martin offers a wealth of ethnographic detail. From the homesickness of indentured child servants to clever forms of vote-rigging in local elections as well as notions of spiritual superiority mixed with social critique amongst the impoverished adepts of Sufi Islam, Martin brings fine-grained forms of analysis to bear on several familiar themes …
Pandemic politics in South Asia
References to regime type figure prominently in analyses of the global COVID-19 pandemic and state responses to it: an 'authoritarian' transparency deficit in China allowed the pandemic to spread before disciplined bureaucratic intervention tackled it; 'democratic' openness left the United States vulnerable even as traditions of personal liberty and grassroots authority stifled a coordinated response. Within these analytical caricatures, or ideal…
Next Steps in the Study of Islam and Politics
During the past 20 years, scholars and policy makers have shown considerable interest in the politics of Islam.Area studies programmes-traditionally focused on East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America-have added new initiatives focused on the cross-regional world of Islam.Scholars have debated the analytical merits of terms like 'Islamism' to describe those who instrumentalise Islam to achieve state-based political ends.S…
From Foreign Text to Local Meaning
Constitutional drafters often look to foreign constitutional models, ideas, and texts for inspiration; many are explicit about their foreign borrowing. However, when implemented domestically, the meaning of borrowed elements often changes. Political scientists and scholars of comparative constitutional law have analyzed the transnational movement of constitutional ideas and norms, but the political processes through which the meaning of foreign p…
Constitutional Migration and the Meaning of Religious Freedom
Building on current research regarding constitutional migration, this article shows how constitutional provisions protecting religious freedom ("subject to public order") arrived in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, not via colonial British or traditional Islamic sources-both explicitly rejected-but via deliberate constitutional borrowing from "anti-colonial" precursors in Ireland and, especially, India. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau's notion of "emp…
The Politics of Muslim Identities in Asia
Explores the intersection between Islam and politics in contemporary Southeast Asia, South Asia and China Gives a comparative view of Asia’s diverse Muslim identities, looking at the complexity of identity politics and the instrumentalisation of religious difference that create social divides Situates the contemporary contestations of identity and belonging amid new waves of Islamic revivalism, ethnic nationalism and political repression Includes…
Will Muslim-Majority States Recognise the Afghan Taliban’s ‘Islamic’ Regime
The Taliban have taken control in Afghanistan. In doing so, they have achieved two of their three main goals, namely the removal of foreign troops and the revival of an Islamic Emirate
Pandemic Politics in South Asia
In South Asia, entrenched social and political cleavages involving Muslims or particular groups of Muslims have shaped state efforts to address the global Covid-19 pandemic: Hindu nationalists blamed Muslims for introducing the virus to India; anti-Covid lockdowns extended severe constraints on civil liberties in Muslim-majority Kashmir; anti-state mullahs protested public-health restrictions in Pakistan; Taliban insurgents used the virus as a pr…
Introduction
Asia is a region of exceptional religious diversity, with many Muslim groups figuring prominently in that diversity.With more than 50 percent of the global Muslim population expected to live in Asia by 2050-indeed, with respect to Muslim population, four of the top five states will be in Asia (namely India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh)-understanding the past, present, and future of religious relations in Asia is a matter of increasing imp…
When crackdowns and cooptation fail
This article examines an evolving mix of constraints facing two key religious opposition forces in Bangladesh, namely, a modern Islamist political party known as the Jama'at-e-Islami (JI; Assembly of Islam) and a traditional madrasa-based social protest movement known as Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI; Protection of Islam). The article examines both 'external' constraints emanating from the country's ruling party, the Awami League (AL; People's League), as…
Eye movements as a measure of word comprehension deficits in primary progressive aphasia
Citation as representation
Political science (24 obras) · Politics (22 obras) · Law (20 obras) · Sociology (19 obras) · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East (14 obras) · Law (13 obras) · Political economy (9 obras) · Islam (8 obras) · Philosophy (7 obras) · Development economics (5 obras)