Migration And Integration Challenges Of Muslim Immigrants In Europe

As the impetus of globalization continues to gather pace, more and more people leave their homes pursuing dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. Muslim immigrants converging on Europe from widely divergent communities scattered throughout North Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia, represent a great variety of local cultures and traditions. Trans-Mediterranean networks form the basis of migration routes and are key factors in the destinations of these migrants and in the overall process of immigration, be this towards Europe or other Muslim countries. South-North fluxes intertwine with South-South fluxes, among which the Gulf Arab countries stand out as a prime destination, not only for low-skilled labour. Different situations emerge, within a variegated discourse on co-existence, integration, assimilation and the preservation of identity. The adoption of this transnational dimension incorporating both destination, and points of origin, enables the investigation of migration to move beyond a purely Eurocentric approach. Thus, different national patterns are analyzed with a focus on a number of significant case-studies. By debating policies and cultural approaches the aim is to add innovative scholarship to the challenge of integration. Cross-cultural pluralism on the part of the nation states comprising the European Union is one avenue for moving the dialogue between different cultural frameworks towards a more compatible form.

Atrocities by terrorists acting in the name of the ‘Islamic State’ are occurring with increasing regularity across Western Europe. Often the perpetrators are ‘home grown’, which places the relationship between Muslims and the countries in which they live under intense political and media scrutiny, and raises questions about the success of the integration of Muslims of migrant origin. At the same time, populist politicians try to shift the blame from the few perpetrators to the supposed characteristics of all Muslims as a ‘group’ by depicting Islam as a threat that seeks to undermine liberal democratic values and institutions. The research in this volume attempts to redress the balance by focusing on the views and life experiences of the many ‘ordinary’ Muslims in their European societies of settlement, and the role that cultural and religious factors play in shaping their social relationships with majority populations and public institutions. The book is specifically interested in the relationship between cultural/religious distance and social factors that shape the life chances of Muslims relative to the majority. The study is cross-national, comparative across the six main receiving countries with distinct approaches to the accommodation of Muslims: France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. The research is based on the findings of a survey of four groups of Muslims from distinct countries of origin: Turkey, Morocco, the former Yugoslavia, and Pakistan, as well as majority populations, in each of the receiving countries. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

An up-to-date and comparative look at immigration in Europe, the United States, and Canada Strangers No More is the first book to compare immigrant integration across key Western countries. Focusing on low-status newcomers and their children, it examines how they are making their way in four critical European countries—France, Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands—and, across the Atlantic, in the United States and Canada. This systematic, data-rich comparison reveals their progress and the barriers they face in an array of institutions—from labor markets and neighborhoods to educational and political systems—and considers the controversial questions of religion, race, identity, and intermarriage. Richard Alba and Nancy Foner shed new light on questions at the heart of concerns about immigration. They analyze why immigrant religion is a more significant divide in Western Europe than in the United States, where race is a more severe obstacle. They look at why, despite fears in Europe about the rise of immigrant ghettoes, residential segregation is much less of a problem for immigrant minorities there than in the United States. They explore why everywhere, growing economic inequality and the proliferation of precarious, low-wage jobs pose dilemmas for the second generation. They also evaluate perspectives often proposed to explain the success of immigrant integration in certain countries, including nationally specific models, the political economy, and the histories of Canada and the United States as settler societies. Strangers No More delves into issues of pivotal importance for the present and future of Western societies, where immigrants and their children form ever-larger shares of the population.

The integration of Muslims into European societies is often seen as a major challenge that is yet to be confronted. This book, by contrast, starts from the observation that on legal, political and organizational levels integration has already taken place. It showcases the variety of theoretical approaches that scholars have developed to conceptualize Muslim life in Europe, and provides detailed empirical analysis of ten European countries. Demonstrating how Muslim life unfolds between conviviality and contentious politics, the contributors describe demographic developments, analyze legal controversies, and explore the action of government and state, Muslim communities and other civil society actors. Driving forces behind the integration of Islam are discussed in detail and compared across countries.

Proposes a common European intellectual framework to evaluate recent developments in European multiculturalism. The heightened security awareness in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the London and Madrid bombings has resulted in a 'crisis of multiculturalism'. Now is the time to look at the renewed challenges that multiculturalism faces today.Each chapter in this interdisciplinary book reviews the actual state of affairs in several countries in relation to the theories behind immigrant minority claims. With a special focus on Muslim immigrants, the contributors look at the value issues entrenched in multiculturalism and the policy challenges and measures adopted to address them.

Symbolic boundaries, cultural differences and ethnic conflicts have gained significance and new meanings in a global situation characterized by the dissolution of traditional political and societal structures. Communications and political and economic interactions increasingly cross the borders of states, nations and ethnic communities, and yet symbolic borders and separate group identities are nevertheless asserted. The perceived efforts of migrants to maintain their cultural and ethnic identities are often blamed as a cause of conflict within nation states. This intriguing volume recognizes that migrants with an Islamic background are seen as especially problematic cases. Turks are the biggest category among Muslim migrants in Europe and more than one third of all Muslim migrants in Europe are from Turkey. Referring primarily to immigration from Turkey, this book combines both exemplary case studies of Turks within Europe and theoretical papers with innovative perspectives on the relations between integration and identity.

Muslims in 21st Century Europe explores the interaction between native majorities and Muslim minorities in various European countries with a view to highlighting different paths of integration of immigrant and native Muslims. Starting with a critical overview of the institutionalisation of Islam in Europe and a discussion on the nature of Muslimophobia as a social phenomenon, this book shows how socio-economic, institutional and political parameters set the frame for Muslim integration in Europe. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden are selected as case studies among the 'old' migration hosts. Italy, Spain and Greece are included to highlight the issues arising and the policies adopted in southern Europe to accommodate Muslim claims and needs. The book highlights the internal diversity of both minority and majority populations, and analyses critically the political and institutional responses to the presence of Muslims.

This informative collection investigates the European dimension of multiculturalism and immigration. It argues that political theory discourse of multiculturalism and resulting EU policies assume an interpretation of liberalism developed chiefly from the American experience, and that this issue must be addressed as the European experience is entirely different (with the main influx being non-white, ethnic and religious groups challenging liberalism and existing notions of citizenship). Presenting a fresh and unique perspective of multiculturalism and citizenship in Western Europe today, this book offers a comparative series of national case studies by a diverse range of leading scholars that together provide a theoretical framework for the volume as a whole. The contributors investigate the extent to which we can talk about a common Europe-wide multiculturalism debate, or whether here too there is a Europe of two (or more) gears, in which some countries address multicultural claims swiftly whilst others lag behind, busy with more basic issues of immigrant acceptance and integration. Comprehensive and interdisciplinary, this text is essential reading for advanced undergraduates, researchers and policy makers interested in immigration, multiculturalism, European integration, Islamic studies and ethnicities.