Part 6 Constitutional Courts: New Guardians of the Constitutions?, 6.1 Constitutional Review in Arab CountriesDawn of a New Era?

Constitutional review is a relatively late arrival to the Arab world. Although some early experiments with constitutional review were undertaken in Arab states early in the 20th century,1 it is only during the last three decades that the idea of constitutional review seems to have taken root more generally in the Arab world. A turning point came in 1979 with the establishment of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, which blends central elements of both the US and European styles of constitutional review in a unique way.2 Unlike most European constitutional...