Emilia Justyna Powell, a Notre Dame professor of political science, concurrent professor at The Law School, and faculty fellow with the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government has won two International Studies Association (ISA) awards for her 2020 book, Islamic Law and International Law: Peaceful Resolution of Disputes.
Powell’s 314-page book earned the ISA’s 2022 International Law Book Award for its originality, significance, and rigor in international law, and for its outstanding contributions to the field, and recieved the ISA’s Religion and International Relations Book Award for those same qualities and its contributions in religion and international relations. Islamic Law and International Law has been favorably reviewed by nearly 30 outlets and organizations in 15 countries (including the Iranian Parliament’s Islamic Studies Center).
The book examines differences and similarities between the Islamic legal tradition and international law. The Center for Strategic & International Studies described the book as one of the most important works books on Islam and international relations in the last two decades that “provides crucial insights and knowledge that can only be ignored at our collective peril."
While writing the book, Powell traveled extensively to interview judges, policymakers, and religious leaders in Islamic culture for the book, in which she also includes nearly 60 years’ of original data about domestic laws of states of Islamic origin.
This fall, Powell will share her research at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., which promotes mutual respect and understanding between Oman and the United States. Her new book--forthcoming in Oxford University Press and coauthored with Krista E. Wiegand--is titled The Peaceful Resolution of Territorial and Maritime Disputes.