Wednesday, July 8, 2015
S08 (13 rue de l'Université)
Ensuring a better affiliation of Muslims citizens to national values is the forefront policy concern in Western
Europe, not only due to the relation of such issues to religious radicalism, but to its contribution to ethnonationalist
extremism as well. Indeed, arguments centered on Muslims’ ‘lacking’ identification with national
identities have served to empower the Radical Right and its reified approach to both Europe’s and Muslims’
culture, and their alleged inherent incongruity.
The exigent question is how to resolve such concerns and promote a more inclusive vision for future Europe.
Tough the Radical Right is inherently skeptical of the ideal of integration, the multicultural approach, as well as the
‘civic integrationist’ approach, are deeply committed to the idea of a multiethnic society. Whilst the advocates of
multiculturalism and the ‘civic integrationist’ perspectives are in agreement over the need to achieve a better
inclusion of Muslims and a curtailing of the electoral empowerment of the Radical Right, these realms remain at
odd on the ‘best’ way to reach these objectives. This study compares the success of the multicultural and
‘integrationist’ approaches, as presented in the epic cases of the Netherlands and France, to achieve these two
eminent goals.
This article draws on qualitative field work involving the interviewing of 97 French and Dutch Muslims to
explore how the Netherlands’ multicultural approach and France’s integrationist approach have fashioned
Muslims’ embodiment of the national identities, and how Muslims’ ‘mirroring’ nationhood serves to confront the
polarizing discourse advanced by the Radical Right.
Europe, not only due to the relation of such issues to religious radicalism, but to its contribution to ethnonationalist
extremism as well. Indeed, arguments centered on Muslims’ ‘lacking’ identification with national
identities have served to empower the Radical Right and its reified approach to both Europe’s and Muslims’
culture, and their alleged inherent incongruity.
The exigent question is how to resolve such concerns and promote a more inclusive vision for future Europe.
Tough the Radical Right is inherently skeptical of the ideal of integration, the multicultural approach, as well as the
‘civic integrationist’ approach, are deeply committed to the idea of a multiethnic society. Whilst the advocates of
multiculturalism and the ‘civic integrationist’ perspectives are in agreement over the need to achieve a better
inclusion of Muslims and a curtailing of the electoral empowerment of the Radical Right, these realms remain at
odd on the ‘best’ way to reach these objectives. This study compares the success of the multicultural and
‘integrationist’ approaches, as presented in the epic cases of the Netherlands and France, to achieve these two
eminent goals.
This article draws on qualitative field work involving the interviewing of 97 French and Dutch Muslims to
explore how the Netherlands’ multicultural approach and France’s integrationist approach have fashioned
Muslims’ embodiment of the national identities, and how Muslims’ ‘mirroring’ nationhood serves to confront the
polarizing discourse advanced by the Radical Right.
