Project Start Date: September 2014

Project Finish Date: January 2019

Research Area: The multi-cultural society

This project addresses how Muslim political thought in Europe is affected by societal structures, and, conversely, how the development of societal structures in Europe is affected by Muslim politics and activism.

We pursue this goal by undertaking a historically oriented, multidisciplinary and comparative case study of three countries: France, England and Norway. In each of the countries, the development in two fields will be studied. On the one hand: Muslim political thinking on the elite level, concerning how religious elites envision the integration of Islam and Muslims into secular democracies. On the other: the development of national models for governance of Islam and Muslims. Additionally, how European Muslim women experience their room for political participation today, at the crossroads of both culture and structure will be studied.

Interacting fields:

The goal is to understand the interaction between the two fields: How is Muslim political thought and activism affected by different modes of national governance? Are the regimes for governance of Islam in these countries influenced by Muslim political action or Muslim initiatives in the civil sphere?

Conflicts and dilemmas:

Finally, the project will also address the normative and ethical issues at stake. How do different kinds of rights and normative considerations come into conflict with each other in the different models for governing Islam? How does Islamic political thought relate to broader conceptions of justice or fairness? Answers will be sought through legal analysis as well as discussions of ethical and human rights dilemmas, focusing particularly on dilemmas constituted by conflicts between various human rights, and also informed by consequential ethical approaches. The work packages are as follows:

Work Package 1: Religio-Political Thought and the Governance of Islam

Work Package 2: Governance of Islam and Muslim Action

Work Package 3: State policies and Islamic politics: Ethical, juridical and normative dilemmas

The project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and is led by the research institute Fafo in Oslo.

Partners:

• Boston College
• University of Amsterdam
• University of Bergen
• University of Oslo

Project manager:

• Jon Rogstad

Researchers:

• Beret Bråten, Researcher, Fafo
• Olav Elgvin, Researcher, Fafo, and project coordinator, PhD student, University of Bergen
• Ragna Lillevik, PhD student, Fafo

Source: Fafo.net