The status of Islam in Western societies remains deeply contentious. Countering strident claims on both the right and left, Legal Integration of Islam offers an empirically informed analysis of how four liberal democracies—France, Germany, Canada, and the United States—have responded to the challenge of integrating Islam and Muslim populations. Demonstrating the centrality of the legal system to this process, Christian Joppke and John Torpey reject the widely held notion that Europe is incapable of accommodating Islam and argue that institutional barriers to Muslim integration are no greater on one side of the Atlantic than the other.While Muslims have achieved a substantial degree of equality working through the courts, political dynamics increasingly push back against these gains, particularly in Europe. From a classical liberal viewpoint, religion can either be driven out of public space, as in France, or included without sectarian preference, as in Germany. But both policies come at a price—religious liberty in France and full equality in Germany. Often seen as the flagship of multiculturalism, Canada has found itself responding to nativist and liberal pressures as Muslims become more assertive. And although there have been outbursts of anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States, the legal and political recognition of Islam is well established and largely uncontested.Legal Integration of Islam brings to light the successes and the shortcomings of integrating Islam through law without denying the challenges that this religion presents for liberal societies.
Les mer
Christian Joppke and John Torpey show how four liberal democracies—France, Germany, Canada, and the U.S.—have responded to the challenge of integrating Muslim populations. Demonstrating the centrality of the legal system to this process, they argue that institutional barriers to integration are no greater on one side of the Atlantic than the other.
Les mer
This short but engaging and provocative work provides an overview of the legal interaction of Islam with the liberal state in France, Germany, Canada, and the U.S.… According Joppke and Torpey, compared to their European counterparts, Muslims in the U.S. are more educated and wealthier and, hence, less challenging to the larger non-Muslim communities. This book’s strength is its analysis of the two European cases, where the focus is on law and the legal integration of Islam into the existing constitutional structure.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780674072848
Publisert
2013-04-01
Utgiver
Vendor
Harvard University Press
Høyde
235 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet

Biographical note

Christian Joppke is Executive Director/Chair in General Sociology at the University of Bern. John Torpey is Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.