Öffentliche Konflikte um die Inkorporation muslimischer Minderheiten in Westeuropa

Abstract

This article develops some analytical and comparative perspectives on the public conflicts over the incorporation of Muslim minorities in western Europe. Drawing on research results from a macro-comparative study on the incorporation of Muslims in Britain, France and Germany, it is argued that the transformation of the classical modern nation state, epitomized by the decoupling of political organization and collective identity, is changing institutionalized conflict patterns over religion. On the one hand, the incorporation of Muslim migrants and the accompanying public conflicts are still shaped by the historically determined institutional logic of religious diversity. On the other hand, the inclusion of religion as a category of identity in the public sphere attests to far-reaching institutional changes. As European states face claims for a public recognition of their citizens’ particularistic religious identities, which are legitimized in terms of a universalistic human rights discourse, they are increasingly developing new institutional arrangements of religious diversity, recoupling political organization and collective identities.