James Neo
Biographic Data
| ID | 214046 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James Neo |
| GIVEN NAMES | James |
| FAMILY NAME | Neo |
| SIGNATURE | NEO J |
| AFFILIATIONS | National University of Singapore |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9510-0167 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Rediscovering the Constitutional Preamble? How Judges Enlist Preambles to Legitimate Transformative Interpretations
Despite being increasingly ubiquitous inhabitants of the constitutional realm, the role of preambles in judicial decision-making remains under-studied in comparative constitutional scholarship. In this Article, we look at how these texts have been employed by courts, regardless of—and often contrary to—their formal legal status and the political expectations of constitution-makers. We show how courts resort to constitutional preambles—whatever th…
A Legality and Legitimacy Framework for Analysing (Unconstitutional) Constitutional Amendments
This introduction to our special issue on ‘Constitutional Legitimacy and Amendments’ presents a framework for a more nuanced understanding of how constitutional change is contested, moving beyond the conventional notion of ‘unconstitutional’ constitutional amendments. We advocate for a clearer distinction between legality and legitimacy when analysing contestation over constitutional change, arguing that focusing exclusively on legality without a…
Law and Religion: Asia as Critical Ground for Rethinking Existing Frameworks and Dominant Paradigms
In 2015, the Pew Research Center released a telling report, The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050, projecting a reshuffling of the religious profile of the world. Europe and North America, previously the center of Christendom, are likely to become less religious (if one takes religious affiliation as a proxy for religiosity) by 2050 while the rest of the world will remain as or become more religious. This project…
Religious Courts and Rights in Plural Societies: Interlegal Gaps and the Need for Complex Concurrency
The administration or recognition of religious courts is a form of religious accommodation present in many constitutional states today commonly analysed in legal pluralism terms. This article contributes to the further analysis of the relationship between legal pluralism and rights in religiously diverse societies by examining the status of state religious courts and their interaction with state non-religious (secular) courts. In particular, I ex…
Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon
In recent times, religious nationalism has emerged as a major basis for identity and mobilization. In Asia, religious nationalism specifically challenges existing pluralist approaches to constitutional government, which have generally been seen as necessary to ensure peaceful coexistence. The increasing alignment of religious and national boundaries has the worrying capacity to neutralize the "cross-cutting cleavages" that could otherwise vitiate…
Religious Minorities in Asia: Between the Scylla of Minority Protection and Charybdis of Religious Freedom Rights
This article examines the intersection of religious freedom and minority protection within the Asian context. It argues that, to the extent that a focus on minority protection draws greater attention to the collective and communitarian dimensions of religious practice, it has the potential to enrich the discourse on religious freedom protection. I identify three areas of possible convergence-first, where a minority-focused regime leads to a riche…
A Contextual Approach to Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments: Judicial Power and the Basic Structure Doctrine in Malaysia
This article takes a contextual approach to analyzing judicial engagement with the doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendments. It argues that in assessing judicial reception of the basic structure doctrine, and the content of the constitutional identity that such a doctrine seeks to preserve, a normative universalist or even functionalist approach is not sufficient. Instead, such a doctrine should be justified and understood contextua…
Regulating Pluralism: Laws on Religious Harmony and Possibilities for Robust Pluralism in Singapore
This article examines the role of regulation in advancing a robust or “covenantal” pluralism in Singapore. I argue that a commitment to pluralism requires a regulated space where law provides a critical expressive role in setting out the boundaries of appropriate conduct as well as in modifying social norms. This is crucial to ensure that the dominant values of the religious majority do not hegemonize the common spaces to the exclusion of religio…
Religious Pluralism and the Challenge for Secularism
This essay introduces the Special Issue of the Journal. It discusses how changing religious demographics and heightened religious plurality are challenging existing thinking about, and patterns of, state-religion relations and the nature of the ‘secular state’. The essay briefly surveys each of the papers in the Special Issue and highlights that one of the key lessons that emerges from the papers is the importance of context. As the contexts evol…
Realizing the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The Limited Normative Force of the Asean Human Rights Declaration
This article examines the normative force and limits of Article 22 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) to advance the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion among ASEAN Member States. It argues that efforts to advance this freedom based on the AHRD are likely to be hampered by two constraints, one external to the document and one internal. The external challenge is the lack of a coherent baseline consensus upon which to bui…
Secular Constitutionalism in Singapore: Between Equality and Hierarchy
The Singapore constitution has often been described and analysed as secular but in a qualified manner. This, I argue, is because commentators have applied the dominant paradigm of secular constitutionalism as (institutional) separation in examining Singapore’s constitutional practice. Singapore defies this constitutional model because of its close entanglement with religion. In this article, I apply two different analytical models to better captu…
Religious Freedom and the Asean Human Rights Declaration: Prospects and Challenges
Among the many important rights affirmed under the Association for South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and re
Riots and Rights: Law and Exclusion in Singapore's Migrant Worker Regime
This article examines the legal framework regulating unskilled and low-skilled migrant workers in Singapore. It argues that the current legal framework discriminates against these migrant workers and conceptualizes them as undesirable for inclusion in the wider society. This, it is contended, is premised on the assumption that migrant workers could be sequestered from the local population to some extent. This article provides some challenges to t…
Why Women Object to Male Circumcision to Prevent HIV in a Moderate-Prevalence Setting
Adult male circumcision has been shown to reduce the transmission of HIV. Women's acceptability of male circumcision is important in Papua New Guinea's preparedness to introduce male circumcision, and in ethical considerations of its use as a biomedical technology for HIV prevention. We conducted 21 focus group discussions and 18 in-depth interviews with women in all four regions of Papua New Guinea. The majority of women objected to the introduc…
More than just a cut: A qualitative study of penile practices and their relationship to masculinity, sexuality and contagion and their implications for HIV prevention in Papua New Guinea
BACKGROUND: Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to reduce vaginal transmission of HIV to men. While community acceptability is important in a countries preparedness to introduce MC, it is equally important to map contemporary MC and other penile cutting practices, and the socio-cultural dimensions underpinning these practices. METHODS: A total of 482 men and women (n = 276 and n = 210, respectively) participated in 82 semi-structured and 45 foc…
"Now we are in a different time; various bad diseases have come." understanding men's acceptability of male circumcision for HIV prevention in a moderate prevalence setting
This is one of the first community-based MC acceptability studies conducted in a moderate prevalence setting outside of Africa. Research findings from this study suggest that a future MC program for HIV prevention would be widely accepted by men in PNG
Regulating Pluralism: Laws on Religious Harmony and Possibilities for Robust Pluralism in Singapore
This article examines the role of regulation in advancing a robust or “covenantal” pluralism in Singapore. I argue that a commitment to pluralism requires a regulated space where law provides a critical expressive role in setting out the boundaries of appropriate conduct as well as in modifying social norms. This is crucial to ensure that the dominant values of the religious majority do not hegemonize the common spaces to the exclusion of religio…
Riots and Rights: Law and Exclusion in Singapore's Migrant Worker Regime
This article examines the legal framework regulating unskilled and low-skilled migrant workers in Singapore. It argues that the current legal framework discriminates against these migrant workers and conceptualizes them as undesirable for inclusion in the wider society. This, it is contended, is premised on the assumption that migrant workers could be sequestered from the local population to some extent. This article provides some challenges to t…
Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon
In recent times, religious nationalism has emerged as a major basis for identity and mobilization. In Asia, religious nationalism specifically challenges existing pluralist approaches to constitutional government, which have generally been seen as necessary to ensure peaceful coexistence. The increasing alignment of religious and national boundaries has the worrying capacity to neutralize the "cross-cutting cleavages" that could otherwise vitiate…
Realizing the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The Limited Normative Force of the Asean Human Rights Declaration
This article examines the normative force and limits of Article 22 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) to advance the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion among ASEAN Member States. It argues that efforts to advance this freedom based on the AHRD are likely to be hampered by two constraints, one external to the document and one internal. The external challenge is the lack of a coherent baseline consensus upon which to bui…
Religious Freedom and the Asean Human Rights Declaration: Prospects and Challenges
Among the many important rights affirmed under the Association for South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and re
Why Women Object to Male Circumcision to Prevent HIV in a Moderate-Prevalence Setting
Adult male circumcision has been shown to reduce the transmission of HIV. Women's acceptability of male circumcision is important in Papua New Guinea's preparedness to introduce male circumcision, and in ethical considerations of its use as a biomedical technology for HIV prevention. We conducted 21 focus group discussions and 18 in-depth interviews with women in all four regions of Papua New Guinea. The majority of women objected to the introduc…
More than just a cut: A qualitative study of penile practices and their relationship to masculinity, sexuality and contagion and their implications for HIV prevention in Papua New Guinea
BACKGROUND: Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to reduce vaginal transmission of HIV to men. While community acceptability is important in a countries preparedness to introduce MC, it is equally important to map contemporary MC and other penile cutting practices, and the socio-cultural dimensions underpinning these practices. METHODS: A total of 482 men and women (n = 276 and n = 210, respectively) participated in 82 semi-structured and 45 foc…
"Now we are in a different time; various bad diseases have come." understanding men's acceptability of male circumcision for HIV prevention in a moderate prevalence setting
This is one of the first community-based MC acceptability studies conducted in a moderate prevalence setting outside of Africa. Research findings from this study suggest that a future MC program for HIV prevention would be widely accepted by men in PNG
Why Women Object to Male Circumcision to Prevent HIV in a Moderate-Prevalence Setting
Adult male circumcision has been shown to reduce the transmission of HIV. Women's acceptability of male circumcision is important in Papua New Guinea's preparedness to introduce male circumcision, and in ethical considerations of its use as a biomedical technology for HIV prevention. We conducted 21 focus group discussions and 18 in-depth interviews with women in all four regions of Papua New Guinea. The majority of women objected to the introduc…
Riots and Rights: Law and Exclusion in Singapore's Migrant Worker Regime
This article examines the legal framework regulating unskilled and low-skilled migrant workers in Singapore. It argues that the current legal framework discriminates against these migrant workers and conceptualizes them as undesirable for inclusion in the wider society. This, it is contended, is premised on the assumption that migrant workers could be sequestered from the local population to some extent. This article provides some challenges to t…
Secular Constitutionalism in Singapore: Between Equality and Hierarchy
The Singapore constitution has often been described and analysed as secular but in a qualified manner. This, I argue, is because commentators have applied the dominant paradigm of secular constitutionalism as (institutional) separation in examining Singapore’s constitutional practice. Singapore defies this constitutional model because of its close entanglement with religion. In this article, I apply two different analytical models to better captu…
Religious Freedom and the Asean Human Rights Declaration: Prospects and Challenges
Among the many important rights affirmed under the Association for South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and re
Realizing the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The Limited Normative Force of the Asean Human Rights Declaration
This article examines the normative force and limits of Article 22 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) to advance the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion among ASEAN Member States. It argues that efforts to advance this freedom based on the AHRD are likely to be hampered by two constraints, one external to the document and one internal. The external challenge is the lack of a coherent baseline consensus upon which to bui…
Religious Pluralism and the Challenge for Secularism
This essay introduces the Special Issue of the Journal. It discusses how changing religious demographics and heightened religious plurality are challenging existing thinking about, and patterns of, state-religion relations and the nature of the ‘secular state’. The essay briefly surveys each of the papers in the Special Issue and highlights that one of the key lessons that emerges from the papers is the importance of context. As the contexts evol…
A Contextual Approach to Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments: Judicial Power and the Basic Structure Doctrine in Malaysia
This article takes a contextual approach to analyzing judicial engagement with the doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendments. It argues that in assessing judicial reception of the basic structure doctrine, and the content of the constitutional identity that such a doctrine seeks to preserve, a normative universalist or even functionalist approach is not sufficient. Instead, such a doctrine should be justified and understood contextua…
Regulating Pluralism: Laws on Religious Harmony and Possibilities for Robust Pluralism in Singapore
This article examines the role of regulation in advancing a robust or “covenantal” pluralism in Singapore. I argue that a commitment to pluralism requires a regulated space where law provides a critical expressive role in setting out the boundaries of appropriate conduct as well as in modifying social norms. This is crucial to ensure that the dominant values of the religious majority do not hegemonize the common spaces to the exclusion of religio…
Religious Courts and Rights in Plural Societies: Interlegal Gaps and the Need for Complex Concurrency
The administration or recognition of religious courts is a form of religious accommodation present in many constitutional states today commonly analysed in legal pluralism terms. This article contributes to the further analysis of the relationship between legal pluralism and rights in religiously diverse societies by examining the status of state religious courts and their interaction with state non-religious (secular) courts. In particular, I ex…
Religious Nationalism and Religious Freedom in Asia: Mapping Regional Trends in a Global Phenomenon
In recent times, religious nationalism has emerged as a major basis for identity and mobilization. In Asia, religious nationalism specifically challenges existing pluralist approaches to constitutional government, which have generally been seen as necessary to ensure peaceful coexistence. The increasing alignment of religious and national boundaries has the worrying capacity to neutralize the "cross-cutting cleavages" that could otherwise vitiate…
Religious Minorities in Asia: Between the Scylla of Minority Protection and Charybdis of Religious Freedom Rights
This article examines the intersection of religious freedom and minority protection within the Asian context. It argues that, to the extent that a focus on minority protection draws greater attention to the collective and communitarian dimensions of religious practice, it has the potential to enrich the discourse on religious freedom protection. I identify three areas of possible convergence-first, where a minority-focused regime leads to a riche…
Law and Religion: Asia as Critical Ground for Rethinking Existing Frameworks and Dominant Paradigms
In 2015, the Pew Research Center released a telling report, The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050, projecting a reshuffling of the religious profile of the world. Europe and North America, previously the center of Christendom, are likely to become less religious (if one takes religious affiliation as a proxy for religiosity) by 2050 while the rest of the world will remain as or become more religious. This project…
A Legality and Legitimacy Framework for Analysing (Unconstitutional) Constitutional Amendments
This introduction to our special issue on ‘Constitutional Legitimacy and Amendments’ presents a framework for a more nuanced understanding of how constitutional change is contested, moving beyond the conventional notion of ‘unconstitutional’ constitutional amendments. We advocate for a clearer distinction between legality and legitimacy when analysing contestation over constitutional change, arguing that focusing exclusively on legality without a…
Rediscovering the Constitutional Preamble? How Judges Enlist Preambles to Legitimate Transformative Interpretations
Despite being increasingly ubiquitous inhabitants of the constitutional realm, the role of preambles in judicial decision-making remains under-studied in comparative constitutional scholarship. In this Article, we look at how these texts have been employed by courts, regardless of—and often contrary to—their formal legal status and the political expectations of constitution-makers. We show how courts resort to constitutional preambles—whatever th…
Political science (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (8 works) · Law and economics (6 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (5 works) · Asian Studies and History (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Religious freedom (4 works)