Jonathan Laurence

The French Debate on National Identity and the Sarkozy Presidency: A Retrospective

Nicolas Sarkozys presidency presented a mixed record on the issues of Muslim immigration and integration. On the one hand, his administration took novel and constructive steps to advance the integration of Muslim immigrants into French society, notably through the granting of unprecedented official recognition and institutional representation to Islam in the country. On the other, by placing the immigration issue at the centre of his 2012 re-election strategy, he overshadowed and undermined the effectiveness of these integrative policies. Given the countrys worsening economic outlook and rising unemployment, immigration is therefore likely to remain as salient and difficult an issue under the new Hollande administration as it was under Sarkozys.

The Challenges of Multiculturalism in Advanced Democracies

Jeffrey C. Isaac Book Review Editor T he “identity politics” of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality have been at the forefront of the politics of “advanced industrial societies” at least since the emergence of new social movements associated with the sixties New Left. Demands for political and social inclusion have shaped the development of public discourse, party politics, and social policy, and they have profoundly impacted the research agendas of political scientists across the discipline. In recent years much attention has turned to the specific challenges of “multiculturalism” presented by the growth of large, visible, and increasingly politicized groups of Muslims within the “advanced industrial societies,” from Britain and France to Canada and the U.S. Perhaps no society has come to exemplify these challenges more than the Netherlands, a country long regarded as a bastion of tolerance and liberal accommodation, which has recently been beset by conflicts that test not simply its political self-understanding, but its deeper identity as a “European” nation. These conflicts—symbolized by the highly publicized controversies associated with the figures Pim Fortuyn, Theo van Gogh, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali—have been widely covered in the media and have been the topic of much recent analysis. Paul M. Sniderman and Louk Hagendoorn’s When Ways of Life: Multiculturalism and its Discontents in the Netherlands (Princeton University Press, 2007) is an important new book that focuses directly on the recent politics of the Netherlands and its broader significance. The book brings to bear on this topic the most advanced tools of public opinion research, and it builds on Spiderman’s earlier pioneering research on the political psychology of prejudice and the politics of race. The book raises questions of fundamental importance to the political identity of liberal democracies. It is also an excellent example of the ways that the methods and concepts developed in the study of American politics are part of a broader scholarly discourse that addresses problems of broader scope and relevance. So it seemed like a perfect book around which to organize a symposium, bringing into conversation a range of political science perspectives. The contributions of Will Kymlicka, a renowned political theorist of multiculturalism; Jonathan Laurence, an expert on Western European politics with a focus on challenges of Muslim incorporation; and Robert Rohrschschneider, an expert on European public opinion research, make clear that political scientists shed light on political problems from a range of angles, and that our overall understanding of the political universe is enhanced when these diverse viewpoints can be brought into productive contact. | |

Die Integration der Muslime und die Entstehung eines europäischen Islam

Ein vergleichender Blick auf den politischen Umgang mit religiosen Konflikten in verschiedenen europaischen Staaten lasst ein vorsichtig optimistisches Zwischenresumee im Hinblick auf die erfolgreiche Inkorporierung muslimischer Minderheiten in Europa zu (vgl. Laurence 2012). Es zeigt sich aber auch, dass die Prasenz muslimischer Gemeinschaften die historisch gewachsenen Beziehungen von Staat und Gesellschaft in Europa nachhaltig beeinflusst hat. Die Art und Weise, wie diese Beziehungen neu verhandelt werden, zeigt, wie Regierungen, die darum bemuht sind, neue Gruppen in ihre politische Strukturen einzubinden, immer wieder mit unterschiedlichen Zielsetzungen und Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert werden.

Muslim Mobilization Between Self-Organization, State-Recognized Consultative Bodies and Political Participation

The practical accomplishments of representative bodies for state-Islam consultations or Islam Councils (e.g., Conseil francais du culte musulman, Deutsche Islamkonferenz) continue to be a matter of controversy, with some national bodies of Muslim religious representatives lying in disrepair or dysfunction. But these Councils have exerted an important influence on the claims-making behavior of federated Muslim religious associations and thereby contributed to their integration into local repertoires of contention. How can we characterize responses from Muslim organizations to State-Islam Consultations? This chapter addresses the achievements of state-mosque relations and the “incorporation” outcomes that can be measured so far (1989–2011).

Die deutsche Debatte um transnationale Zuwanderergruppen

Westeuropaische Einwanderungsgesellschaften wie die Bundesrepublik Deutschland sind spatestens seit der Olkrise mit einem Einwanderungsdilemma konfrontiert. Niemand erwartete, dass Arbeitsemigranten, die in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren kamen, sich langerfristig im Land einrichten wurden.1 Doch viele entschieden sich zu bleiben, als Mitte der 1970er Jahre der Einwanderungsstopp verhangt wurde. Die Migranten und ihre Kinder konnten zwar die meisten sozialen Leistungen in Anspruch nehmen und auch das Recht auf Familienzusammenfuhrung geltend machen, jedoch blieb ihr politischer Einfluss beschrankt, weil ihnen als Auslander das Wahlrecht vorenthalten wurde und Migranten in politischen Institutionen standig unterreprasentiert gewesen sind.