Islamic Commercial Law and Economic Development

Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Keywords

Islam, Development, Economic, Political, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Statistics, Oil, Shariah, Law, Commercial, ANOVA

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

Questions concerning Islam's relationship to politics and economics have become increasingly significant. A heated debate over what effect the religion has on development is raging throughout academic scholarship. The present study focuses on how Islamic commercial law, the target of some of the more thorough arguments in the debate, affects economic development. This thesis covers the major points of Islamic commercial law. Part of the study was establishing correlations between different variables through statistical analyses. The results of these analyses guided a series of case studies that focused on the Islamic commercial law and oil resource endowments in four Islamic countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Turkey. The results indicated that Islam may have some deleterious effects of Islam on development, including the instability that arises from the Islamic legal system. However, a number of competing explanations for development lag suggest that Islamic commercial law and development are unrelated. Further research should be done to examine how other factors including civil society, political stability, and government type affect various indicators of economic development, such as business climate, education, or investment.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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