What Can Multicultural Theory Tell Us about Integrating Muslims in Europe?

Abstract

Across Europe and elsewhere we are witnessing a series of decisions, including attempts (successful and otherwise) to ban the burka or the building of minarets on mosques, which seem to be made from a fear of ‘politicised Muslims’ – Muslim residents and citizens in European countries – who are alleged to be irredeemably and unambiguously anti-European and therefore anti-democratic. They are, additionally, frequently portrayed as taking orders from fundamentalist regimes, or organisations, which operate from outside Europe and aim to destabilise European political life. The debates and conflicts portrayed in the Swiss media in the week before the vote on whether to ban the construction of minarets, for example, and in the days just afterwards, mirror those that have been occupying European countries for the past several years. As I shall suggest in this article, these debates are familiar to theorists of multiculturalism, and of liberal democracy more generally, and they press us to consider whether the challenges (apparently) posed by Muslim integration are distinct from the challenges that have occupied the attention of multicultural theorists in the past. Underpinning the analysis in this article is my view that the principles that underpin multicultural theorising, principles that were developed in response to previous waves of immigration, are able to guide us in developing fair terms of integration for Muslim citizens.