Despite Muslims comprising only one to eight percent of the population in various Western countries, their very presence has become one of the defining issues of the populist era, dividing left and right in stark fashion. Right-wing populist parties differ considerably on economic and social policy. But nearly every major right-wing populist party emphasizes cultural and religious objections to specifically Muslim immigration as well as to demographic increases in the proportion of Muslim citizens more generally.
It would be a mistake, however, to view the debate over Islam and Muslims as only that. The rise of anti-Muslim sentiment signals a deeper shift in the party system away from economic cleavages toward “cultural” ones. With this in mind, attitudes toward Muslims and Islam become a proxy of sorts through which Western democracies work out questions around culture, religion, identity, and nationalism.
Focusing on nine European countries and the United States, this project — The One Percent Problem: Muslims in the West and the Rise of the New Populists — will examine how the growth of Muslim minority communities and fears around Islam’s public role are shaping the formation of new “populist” identities and ideologies in Western democracies. This unique focus offers an important entry point to address increasingly salient questions around what it means to be a nation—and who constitutes its members—at a time when elections are increasingly fought around so-called “who we are” questions.
This project is led by Brookings Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid and Visiting Fellow Sharan Grewal, and is supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. It will cover nine European cases — Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and Hungary — along with the United States, capturing a wide diversity of experiences and contexts.
Right-wing populism in Germany: Muslims and minorities after the 2015 refugee crisis
- Jeffrey Gedmin Editor-In-Chief – The American Interest
The 2015 decision by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to open Germany’s borders opened a new German debate around questions of “Who Are We?”
Right-wing populism in Germany: Muslims and minorities after the 2015 refugee crisis
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
How “populist” is the AfD?
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Gedmin reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for his own country case of Germany.
Muslims in the West and the rise of the new populists: The case of Italy
- Manuela Caiani Associate Professor – Scuola Normale Superiore
While the two populist parties currently governing Italy—one right-wing and the other ambiguously left— advance different diagnoses of the relationship between “native Italians” and Muslim minorities, they share a convergent prognosis.
Muslims in the West and the rise of the new populists: The case of Italy
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
How Italy’s “all-populist government” viewed Muslims
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Caiani reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for her own country case of Italy.
The new right: Austria’s Freedom Party and changing perceptions of Islam
- Farid Hafez Senior Researcher – University of Salzburg Senior Research Fellow – Georgetown University, The Bridge Initiative
- Reinhard Heinisch Professor of Comparative Austrian Politics and Chair of Department of Politics – University of Salzburg
- Eric Miklin Associate Professor of Political Science – University of Salzburg
Anti-Islam rhetoric has played an increasingly important role in the Freedom Party’s political strategy and has subsequently influenced other political parties and Austria’s broader public discourse around the place of Islam and Muslims.
The new right: Austria’s Freedom Party and changing perceptions of Islam
Farid Hafez, Reinhard Heinisch, and Eric Miklin
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
How the center-right co-opts the far-right in Austria
Farid Hafez, Reinhard Heinisch, and Eric Miklin
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Hafez, Heinisch, and Miklin react to the other working papers and discuss what their arguments mean for their own country case of Denmark.
“The biggest problem in the Netherlands”: Understanding the Party for Freedom’s politicization of Islam
- Koen Damhuis Assistant Professor – Utrecht University
In 2017, in the lead-up to elections, Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, declared that “the biggest problem in this county is Islamization.” But the party has gone further than most in elevating with almost missionary zeal the question of Islam’s role in Dutch society.
“The biggest problem in the Netherlands”: Understanding the Party for Freedom’s politicization of Islam
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
Why Dutch populists are exceptional
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Damhuis reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for his own country case of the Netherlands.
Imaginary Muslims: How the Polish right frames Islam
- Agnieszka Dudzińska Assistant Professor – University of Warsaw
- Michał Kotnarowski Assistant Professor – Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Though Muslims count as less than 0.1 percent of Poland’s population, Islam and Muslims have increasingly featured in the country’s political debates. How did anti-Muslim sentiment rise in importance in a country with almost no Muslims?
Imaginary Muslims: How the Polish right frames Islam
Agnieszka Dudzińska and Michał Kotnarowski
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
Islam and Catholicism collide in Poland
Agnieszka Dudzińska and Michał Kotnarowski
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Dudzińska and Kotnarowski react to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for their own country case of Poland.
Anti-Muslim populism in Hungary: From the margins to the mainstream
- Péter Krekó Director – Political Capital Institute Associate Fellow – JHU SAIS Bologna Policy Institute
Since 2015, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party have kept immigration on the top of Hungary’s political agenda. In the 2018 elections, the question of Muslim refugees was central in the campaign, with Orban using the issue not just to solidify his base but also to expand his support.
Anti-Muslim populism in Hungary: From the margins to the mainstream
Péter Krekó, Bulcsú Hunyadi, and Patrik Szicherle
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
Islam as the Rorschach-test for populists
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Krekó reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for his own country case of Hungary.
Islam as a “floating signifier”: Right-wing populism and perceptions of Muslims in Denmark
- Susi Meret Associate Professor – Aalborg University
- Andreas Beyer Gregersen Doctoral Student – Aalborg University
In Denmark, right-wing populist readings of Islam as a marker of cultural and societal difference have spilled into the mainstream. Across the spectrum, we are witnessing political convergence towards more restrictive positions on immigration and integration, including the implementation of laws and regulations with broad political support.
Islam as a “floating signifier”: Right-wing populism and perceptions of Muslims in Denmark
Susi Meret and Andreas Beyer Gregersen
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
Islam and the Danish-Scandinavian welfare state
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Meret reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for her own country case of Denmark.
Ambivalent nativism: Trump supporters’ attitudes toward Islam and Muslim immigration
- George Hawley Associate Professor of Political Science – University of Alabama
Immigration is a top concern for Trump supporters, but they are not primarily concerned with Islam per se. Interviewees’ suspicions about Muslims were often tied up with broader concerns about immigration from culturally and linguistically different groups who threatened America’s cohesion.
Ambivalent nativism: Trump supporters’ attitudes toward Islam and Muslim immigration
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
REACTION ESSAY
Are Trump supporters anti-Muslim?
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Hawley reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for his own country case of the United States.
Muslims and the secular city: How right-wing populists shape the French debate over Islam
- Catherine Fieschi Chair – Counterpoint Director – Global Policy Institute at Queen Mary University of London
Understanding the relationship between right-wing populists and Islam in France requires keeping in mind three key historical pillars: the Republic’s attitude toward religion of any kind, colonialism and decolonization, and France’s history of anti-Semitism.
Muslims and the secular city: How right-wing populists shape the French debate over Islam
Friday, February 28, 2020
How religious legacies shape public debates over Muslim immigration
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Fieschi reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for her own country case of France.
The Rise of Sweden Democrats: Islam, Populism and the End of Swedish Exceptionalism
- Danielle Lee Tomson Ph.D. Candidate – Columbia University
The humanitarian doctrine of “Swedish Exceptionalism” might have been a point of national pride and a marker of Swedish identity. That capacity has now been challenged by the growing popularity of the nationalist Sweden Democrats.
The Rise of Sweden Democrats: Islam, Populism and the End of Swedish Exceptionalism
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
What makes populists more (or less) resilient over time
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Tomson reacts to the other working papers and discusses what their arguments mean for her own country case of Sweden.
source https://www.brookings.edu/product/muslims-in-the-west/
Categories: Europe, Europe and Australia, European Union, Islamophobia