To what extent are Muslims in Europe integrated? Muslims are increasingly making themselves noticed in the political process of Europe. But what is happening behind the often sensational headlines? This book looks at the processes and realities of Muslim participation in local and national politics in a range of Eastern and Western European countries: voting patterns in local and national assemblies, membership of elected councils and national parliaments, and the tensions between ethnic, political and religious identities. It also asks how political participation and wider integration issues interrelate and considers how Muslims - as ethnic groups, or through specific institutions - seek to locate themselves within European political society.

This book outlines the principal motivations, opportunities and barriers to Muslim women’s political participation in France and francophone Belgium. Easat-Daas draws on in-depth comparative contextual analysis along with semi-structured interview material with women from France and Belgium who self-identify as Muslim and are active in a variety of modes of political participation, such European Parliamentarians, Senators, councilwomen, trade-union activists and those engaged in grass-roots political movements. This provides an alternative framing of Muslim women, removed from the tired and often exaggerated stereotypes that portray them as passive objects or sources of threat, instead highlighting their remarkable resilience and consistent determination. Through exploring the intersecting fault lines of racial, Islamophobic and gendered struggles of Muslim women in these two cases, this book also sheds new light on the role of ‘European Islam’, political opportunity structures, secularism and Muslim women’s dress.

This paper summarises the main hypotheses and results of the research on the securitization of Islam. It posits that the securitisation of Islam is not only a speech act but also a policymaking process that affects the making of immigration laws, multicultural policies, antidiscrimination measures and security policies. The paper deconstructs and analyses the premises of such policies as well as their consequences on the civic and political participation of Muslims. The behaviour of Muslims was studied through 50 focus groups conducted in Paris, London, Berlin and Amsterdam over the year 2007-08. The results show a great discrepancy between the assumptions of policy-makers and the political and social reality of Muslims across Europe. The paper presents recommendations to facilitate the greater inclusion of Muslims within European public spheres.

This volume describes a clear and overall overview on contemporary European Islam, dealing with both Western and Eastern sides. Based on wide bibliographic research as well as original national contributions from recognised scholars, it is concerned with the process of construction of Islam as well as its co-inclusion in the European societies. Muslims in the Enlarged Europe has been selected by Choice as Outstanding Academic Title (2005).

How do progressive social movements deal with religious pluralism? In this book, Timothy Peace uses the example of the alter-globalisation movement to explain why social movement leaders in Britain and France reacted so differently to the emergence of Muslim activism.

The involvement of minorities in politics has been the subject of a considerable number of studies. However, these studies are rarely concerned with the views of Muslims on their participation in the political processes of non-Muslim societies. Several Western scholars have thought and still think that the world, from the perspective of Muslims, can be divided in accordance with the dichotomy of the classical Islamic Law that distinguishes between the "Territory of Islam" and the "Territoryof War". however, during the last decennia various Muslim scholars have tried to reinterpret the position of Muslims in non-Muslim societies in new religious terms by which this classification has been emended and corrected. In this book, four different views are distinguished: the pragmatic, idealistic or utopian, re-interpretative, and traditionalist views. It goes without saying that the practical implementaion of these views to a large degree depends upon the types of Muslim organizations and representative bodies in those societies, as well as their denominational and ethnical backgrounds. From an international comparative perspective it appears that, contrary to the situation in Australia, Muslims of most Western European states have been thus far unsuccessful in creating representative organizations at national levels. This is also illustrated by studies of Muslim organizations in Germany, Italy and the united Kingdom. Another important factor consists of the views of the younger generations of Muslim immigrants about the compatibility of their Islamic identiity and full participation in the non-Muslim, secular societies in which they are living. Research on this subject contained in the present book responds to this question in an affirmative way.

The involvement of minorities in politics has been the subject of a considerable number of studies. However, these studies are rarely concerned with the political role in Western Europe of both Islam as a mobilising factor, and the Muslims as a religious group comparable with other confessional groups creating political parties. The importance of political participation of Muslims for the improvement of their social, economic, and cultural position as well as for the establishing of religious infrastructure, has been widely recognized by politicians and scientists alike. As relative newcomers in Western Europe, most Muslims still occupy a marginal position, which makes their active political participation all the more urgent. Over the last decades, initiatives have been taken in several countries to create Islamic political parties. At the same, in most countries of Western Europe, the established political parties are nominating members with an Islamic background among their candidates. Furthermore, many discussions have taken place about the feasability of the integration of Islam within the European social and political systems. Cabinet ministers and established political parties have developed views about the nature of Islam, which are being crystalized in the policies of the national governments. Central issues in these discussions are, for instance, the compatibility of Islam and parliamentary democracy and human rights, the fear of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism, as well as the oppression of women by Islam. The present book contains fourteen contributions by specialists from various European countries.