A large section of European opinion believes that Muslims present a long term political and cultural threat. Professor Parekh argues that this view is deeply mistaken. There is, nevertheless, a small underclass, mainly young, which is deeply alienated from both their parental and European cultures. They are in Europe but not of it, and have no commitment to it. A dialogue between the Muslim communities in general and the host societies is therefore necessary. It has its limits and we should not expect too much from it. However, there is no alternative to it.

Annotation. A large section of European opinion believes that Muslims present a long term political and cultural threat. Professor Parekh argues that this view is deeply mistaken. There is, nevertheless, a small underclass, mainly young, which is deeply alienated from both their parental and European cultures. They are in Europe but not of it, and have no commitment to it. A dialogue between the Muslim communities in general and the host societies is therefore necessary. It has its limits and we should not expect too much from it. However, there is no alternative to it. This title can be previewed in Google Books - http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9789053560877.

In this book, the author argues that the vehement controversies surrounding European Muslims are better understood as persistent, unresolved intra-European political tensions rather than as a clash between "Islam and the West." This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

The book challenges the popular notion of a clash of cultures pitting Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans against one another. The study finds instead vehement conflict among three longstanding European public philosophies: liberalism, nationalism, and postmodernism. The consequential differences of outlook are demonstrated in four policy areas: 1) citizenship requirements, 2) the headscarf debate, 3) mosque-state relations and 4) counter-terrorism. The book reaches three important conclusions. First, Muslim Europeans do not represent a monolithic anti-Western bloc -- a Trojan Horse -- within Europe. They vehemently disagree among themselves but along the same basic liberal, nationalist, and postmodern contours as non-Muslim Europeans. Second, ideological discord significantly contributes to policy "messiness," that is, to inconsistent, contradictory policies. Third, both the discord and the messiness are remarkably similar from one European country to the next, thereby casting doubt on the dominant theory in comparative migration studies that posits distinct national styles such as French republicanism, German ethno-nationalism and British multiculturalism.

Why “the Muslim question” is really about the West and its own anxieties—not Islam In this fearless, original book, Anne Norton demolishes the notion that there is a “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam. What is really in question, she argues, is the West’s commitment to its own ideals: to democracy and the Enlightenment trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the most fundamental sense, the Muslim question is about the values not of Islamic, but of Western, civilization.

Islam in "Liberal" Europe provides the first comprehensive overview of the political and social status of Islam and of Muslim migrants in Europe. Kai Hafez shows that although legal and political systems have made progress toward recognizing Muslims on equal terms and eliminating discriminatory practices that are in contradiction to neutral secularism, “liberal societies” often lag behind. The author argues that Islamophobic murders in Norway and Germany are only the tip of the iceberg of a deep-seated inability of many Europeans to accept cultural globalization when it hits close to home. Although there have always been anti-racist elites and networks in Europe, Hafez contends that the dominant tradition even among seemingly liberal intellectual milieus and their media is Islamophobic. This fact finds expression not only in the growing anti-Islam sentiment among right-wing populists but sometimes also in so-called enlightened forms of contemporary media, public opinion, school curricula, and Christian interfaith dialogues. In addition to offering a critical assessment of positive and negative trends in Islamic-Western relations, Hafez also engages in a theoretical debate revolving around integration, tolerance, multicultural liberalism, and modern liberal democracy. He combines political philosophy and political and social theory with current analysis on communication and the role of both religious and secular institutions in community-building in modern societies. In essence, the author debates the question of whether liberal society in Europe, in order to avoid a growing gap between integrative politics and discriminatory societies, needs a complete renewal not only of political ideologies but also of cultures and institutions.