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Incorporating Muslim migrants in western nation states – a comparison of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany

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Abstract

This article analyses how nation states respond to religious diversity produced by migration. Drawing on research results from a comparative macro-sociological study on the incorporation of Muslims in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, it is argued that both the claims of recognition and the modes of symbolic and organizational incorporation are shaped by varying institutional arrangements of political organization, collective identity, and religion. Yet recent convergences in the development of multicultural forms of incorporation and the inclusion of religion as a legitimate category of identity in the public sphere suggest that these institutional arrangements are equally transformed under the influence of transnational discourses of human rights.

Résumé

Cet article présente une analyse des diverses réactions des États nations à la diversité religieuse qui résulte de la migration. En se référant aux recherches comparatives sur l’incorporation des musulmans en Grande-Bretagne, France et allemagne, nous avançons l’hypothèse selon laquelle les revendications et les modes d’incorporation symbolique et organisationnelle sont influencés par les arrangements institutionnels de l’organisation politique, l’identité collective et la religion. Cependant, des convergences récentes concernant le développement des formes “multiculturelles” de l’incorporation et l’inclusion de “religion” en tant que catégorie légitime d’identité dans la sphère publique montrent, que ces arrangements institutionnels sont tous transformés sous l’influence des discours transnationaux des droits de l’homme.

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Koenig, M. Incorporating Muslim migrants in western nation states – a comparison of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Int. Migration & Integration 6, 219–234 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-005-1011-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-005-1011-8

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