Dirk Jacobs

Introduction: Social Capital and Political Integration of Migrants

In recent years the social capital approach has been gaining importance in the study of political participation of (ethnic) minorities. Here we follow the research efforts of the Dutch political scientists Fennema and Tillie who claim that differences in political participation of ethnic minorities are linked to differences in ‘civic community’, primarily seen as the amount of ‘ethnic’ social capital (participation in ethnic associational life) of the relevant group. It is a challenge to try and test these claims in different national settings. This is the aim of the empirical contributions to this special issue of JEMS, which aims to pave the way for further comparative cross‐national research on the link between migrant associational life and political participation.

Associational membership and political involvement among ethnic minority groups in Brussels

In this article we look into the relationship between associational membership and political involvement in the case of the two largest groups of non‐EU citizens in Brussels, Moroccans and Turks. The aim is to evaluate the claim by Fennema and Tillie that differences in political participation between groups are to be explained by different levels of ‘ethnic civic community’, and more specifically by the differential presence of social capital (as participation in associational life). Primarily making use of data of a survey among Moroccans, Turks and lower‐educated Belgians, we conclude that the Fennema and Tillie hypothesis does not work in a straightforward way for Brussels. Although we see a high score of Turks on a number of indicators of ‘ethnic civic community’, it is the Moroccans who have a higher level of political involvement. Moreover, on the individual level, we did not find proof of a strong positive link between membership participation in ethnic associations as such and political involvement. Furthermore, links that can be found do not really help us to explain differences in political involvement of Moroccans and Turks on an aggregate level. Indeed, ethnic social capital has different effects on political involvement for Moroccans and Turks.

The debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents in Belgium

Abstract There has been debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents in Belgium since the early 1970s. This article examines the presence and influence of the ethnic minority voice in the political debate on this topic. The reluctance of the main political parties to address the issue openly and the electoral struggle over the anti‐immigrant vote incited immigrant (and antiracist) groups to rally fiercely for enfranchisement. However, there was little discernable evidence of any (positive) influence being exerted by immigrant associations and the wider suffragist movement on the parliamentary debate over enfranchisement of foreign residents. The absence of direct communication and lack of negotiation between the political elite and migrant associations and the antiracist movement has served to reduce the role of ethnic minority groups to that of being mere subjects of discourse in elite‐driven domestic politics.

Discourse, politics and policy : The Dutch parliamentary debate about voting rights for foreign residents

This article contains the results of research concerning parliamentary debate about voting rights for foreign residents in the Netherlands (1970–1996) using a discourse analytical framework. Due to the characteristics of the Dutch political field, a large majority of the political actors has to be willing and able to combine political interests and ideological narratives into one story line propagating franchise for foreign residents in order to grant voting rights to nonnationals. It is claimed that the success and failure of policy changes regarding the political participation of nonnationals is foremost determined by the extent of the discursive affinity of argumentative clusters used by parties of the “center-right” with the (leftist) discourse which propagates enfranchisement.

Political participation and associational life of Turkish residents in the capital of Europe

Abstract This study addresses the question of the political participation of Turkish immigrants. In general an active participation in the political system of the host country through membership of political parties, through voting, through holding elected office or through civil society activism is considered as almost a sine qua non of complete integration into the host society. The Turkish experience is somewhat puzzling: Turkish immigrants in the European Union tend to have a strong associational life, dense social networks and an important sense of community, which should lead to increased political trust and political involvement. Yet this does not appear to be the case in the Belgian region of Brussels‐Capital. The study discusses (dis)similarities in this context between Turks living in major Western European cities like Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels, and tries to shed further light on the structure of Turkish associational life in Brussels and the issue of political involvement of the Turkish community in the Belgian and European capital.

Multinational and polyethnic politics entwined: Minority representation in the region of Brussels-Capital

During the 1990s, issues of immigrant entry and equity have increasingly become intertwined with the dominant political cleavage that exists between Dutch- and French-speaking Belgians and with related claims for group-differentiated rights. This is particularly the case in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital where both the Flemish and the Francophone community have jurisdiction and where 30 per cent of the inhabitants are non-nationals. Political incorporation of the foreign population into the polity could tip the power balance between the national communities. The issue of minority representation has thus become a rather contentious issue. This article examines how these multinational and polyethnic politics are increasingly interlocked.

The impact of dramatic events on public debate concerning accommodation of Islam in Europe

Using the data of the EURISLAM project, this article investigates the impact of dramatic events on the public debate with regard to Islam in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. It assesses the extent to which dramatic events such as 9/11, the bombings in Madrid and London and the murder of Theo Van Gogh in Amsterdam impacted on the debate on multiculturalism, notably the accommodation of Western-European institutions to Islam. In this contribution, we analyse the overall evolution of public debate in the written press on Muslims, and more particularly Muslim rights, for the period 1999–2009. Our aim is to empirically analyse the transitions that the public debate on Islam in Europe has undergone in the wake of the most dramatic terrorist acts perpetrated by Muslim extremists during the last decade. We hypothesize that dramatic violent events involving Muslim extremists had an impact on the number of claims about Muslims and Islam in general, but not on the debate about religious rights for Muslims in Europe. Descriptive analysis and time series plus intervention analysis were undertaken to test these hypotheses.1

Territorial and Non-territorial Federalism in Belgium: Reform of the Brussels Capital Region, 2001

Belgium has a peculiar system of federalism, combining both territorial (regions) and non-territorial (communities) substate levels. In the summer of 2001 yet another phase in the process of devolution took place, further adjusting the already quite complex federal model. One of the most important modifications was constituted by the transfer of jurisdiction over interior affairs and electoral law (for the local and provincial level) to the sub-state regions. In addition, new procedures for guaranteed representation of the Flemish minority in the bilingual Brussels Capital Region were introduced. At the same time a number of specific institutional changes were introduced in order to keep the extreme-right wing party Vlaams Blok from power. This contribution aims to describe these changes.

The impact of the conflict in Gaza on antisemitism in Belgium

ABSTRACT Taking Belgium as a case study, this article aims to assess the impact of a foreign conflict (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip) on intergroup relations in Europe. It asks whether intensification of the conflict in Gaza increases the number of antisemitic incidents in Belgium, and makes use of a database of complaints to the Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding (Center of Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism), a federal anti-racism agency, and of an analysis of political claims-making in the written press. It is often stated that the conflict between Palestine and Israel leads to increased levels of antisemitism in Europe but rarely is this based on statistical analysis. The authors of this article undertook such an analysis and concluded that complaints about antisemitism in Belgium indeed showed a statistically significant increase during the Israeli military operation Cast Lead (December 2008–January 2009). Time series and intervention analysis on data spanning a period of one-and-a-half years, however, showed that this effect was not lasting and wore off after a couple of weeks. Apart from the temporary effect of the Gaza war on domestic intergroup relations, there seemed to be no systematic and continuous link between events in the Middle East and acts of antisemitism in Belgium.

Arab European League (AEL): the rapid rise of a radical immigrant movement

Abstract In this paper a contextualized account is given of the rise of the immigrant organization, Arab European League (AEL), in Belgium. An attempt is made to explain how and why the AEL was able to mobilize important numbers of immigrant youngsters in Antwerp, while other actors remained powerless to do so in the past. In addition, the question of why and how the AEL was able to become a key-actor in the debate on immigrant integration in Belgium and in the Netherlands is also addressed. The article discusses the influence of media-coverage on the rise of the AEL and contextualizes the counter mobilization against the AEL and attempts at criminalization of the organization. The focus of this paper is also directed to an analysis of the organization itself, on the level of ideology, discourse and style. In doing so, we look into the significance of the rhetorical use of references to Gamal Abdel Nasser, Malcolm X and the intifida, and into the AELs fluctuating strategic stress on male and ‘Arab pride’ identity. Equally, the organizations pan-Arabic and Muslim identity claims, the conceptualization of Arab-Europeanness (inspired by the African-American identity) and multicultural ideology are discussed. The paper finally discusses how the phenomenon of the AEL fits into theoretical approaches to the political mobilization of ethnic minorities, with special attention to insights from the perspective of political opportunity structures.