European Islam in the Year 2030
This chapter appeared in Europe 2030, a volume edited by Daniel Benjamin:
In April 2009, a futuristic novel by the Russian writer Elena Tchudinov was published in France titled The Notre Dame Mosque of Paris: Year 2048; it depicted Paris’s grandest cathedral transformed into a mosque. That same spring, in an article titled “In the Casbah of Rotterdam,” the Italian newspaper Il Foglio crowned Rotterdam the future capital of Eurabia. Since the advent of the 21st century, any number of scholars, journalists, and Internet populists have argued that, for Europe, demography is destiny—that the combination of runaway Muslim birthrates, suicidal native European fertility rates, and white flight will lead to a set of Western Islamic republics by mid-century…
The U.S.-EU Counter-Terrorism Conversation: Acknowledging a Two-Way Threat
Should the U.S. and the EU form a joint counterterrorism strategy? Jonathan Laurence explains the benefits in a policy brief for the Brookings Institution.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s Faith in the Republic
Abstract:
President Sarkozy has defied numerous French taboos regarding the role of religion in the Republic. While campaigning, he told journalists that he finds solace in church on Sundays. But since taking office, he has more often been seen visiting mosques and synagogues: he didn’t publicly celebrate Ash Wednesday, but he brought journalists along to watch him break the Ramadan fast. In issuing a book on religious faith two years before running for president, Sarkozy signaled he would be of a different mold than the previous officeholders of the Fifth Republic. Is there something “American” about his comfort with religion in the public sphere? This essay provides a reflection on Sarkozy’s attitudes towards religious community in France and Islam in particular. With the aid of field notes from a decade of interviews with French politicians, the author argues that Sarkozy is “globalizing” French attitudes towards religion and diversity in service of a conception of healthy democracy that would make Tocqueville proud.
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Transatlantic Academy Report on High-Skilled Migration, June 2009
A new Transatlantic Academy report — co-authored by Jeroen Doomernik, Rey Koslowski, Jonathan Laurence, Rahsaan Maxwell, Ines Michalowski, and Dietrich Thränhardt — examines the effect of the economic crisis on high-skilled immigration. The shrinking economy has changed migration patterns, inefficiencies are seen in country point systems of the highly skilled, and extreme ideologies are found to be attractive to better-educated migrants.
Click Here to read the full report:
http://www.transatlanticacademy.org
The Corporatist Antecedent of Contemporary State-Islam Relations
This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of the state-led establishment of quasi-monopolistic Islam Councils in Western Europe. The author argues that national consultations representing the Muslim faith in seven European countries share institutional characteristics with 19th and 20th century corporatist arrangements with Labor Unions and Jewish Communities, and that State Islam Councils in Europe pursue similar goals of rendering faith and group ideology compatible with national citizenship while encouraging the moderation of group demands on the state.
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Ethnic Statistics in France, May 2009
An article on the current French debate over whether and how to count minorities in national statistics.
Jonathan Laurence, “Les mérites du flou,” Esprit, May 2009:
Excerpt:
“La France est-elle vraiment au bord de la « guerre communautaire » ? Le pays va-t-il « tout droit vers l’apartheid » ? Le commissaire à la diversité Yazid Sabeg dit en voir les premiers signes. On peut considérer qu’il pratique l’hyperbole dans ses interventions publiques, mais peut-être ressent-il le besoin d’élever la voix pour être entendu par ceux qui semblent s’être volontairement bouchés les oreilles, tant leur défense d’une certaine idée de la République est rigide. En tout cas, il est difficile de mettre en doute la sincérité d’un homme qui a consacré une bonne partie des dix dernières années à la
poursuite d’une « démocratie pluraliste, attachée à la lettre, mais plus encore à l’esprit de notre héritage républicain ». Sa plus récente série de propositions, commandée par l’Élysée et mise à l’examen ici, représente sa recette pour réconcilier ceux qui sont divisés par « la lettre » et « l’esprit » : changer la loi.” [...]
Click here to read the article (in French, available soon in English)
Workshop Report on Integration Factors in the US and Germany, March 2009
Click HERE to read the workshop report by Jonathan Laurence, written after a recent one-day conference he co-organized, and which was held at the Transatlantic Academy in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Governments and Muslim Communities in the West: United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany
Proceedings of a workshop and conference co-organized by Jonathan Laurence on March 3-5, 2008. Click here to download.
INTEGRATING ISLAM. Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France
Click here to read book reviews. Click here to purchase.
France is home to nearly 5 million Muslims, roughly half of whom are French citizens. While the nation has successfully integrated waves of immigrants in the past, this new influx poses a variety of daunting challenges, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of growing Islamic fundamentalism worldwide.
INTÉGRER L’ISLAM – La France et ses musulmans : Enjeux et réussites
Traduit de l’anglais (États-unis) par Jean-Marc Dreyfus.
Préface d’Olivier Roy.
Available at amazon.fr
Près de cinq millions de musulmans se sentent chez eux en France. Alors que notre pays a réussi à intégrer les vagues passées d’immigration, cette présence semble poser des défis inédits.
ISBN 2-7381-1900-X, mars 2007, 155 x 240, 400 pages. (28 €)
The Challenges of Multiculturalism in Advanced Industrial Democracies
“The Challenges of Multiculturalism in Advanced Democracies”
by Robert Rohrschneider, Will Kymlicka and Jonathan Laurence
Click Here to read the article
Muslims and the State in Western Europe
This book chapter by Jonathan Laurence appeared in April 2008. A description of the book can be found here and the book’s introductory chapter is available here.
Managing Transnational Islam: Muslims and the state in Western Europe
Click here to read the book chapter.
Renewal and Continuity in Italian Foreign Policy – Full Report
L’occidentale published Jonathan’s report on ten up-and-coming Italian foreign policy leaders. Click here to download.
Renewal and Continuity in Italian Foreign Policy
An article examining new foreign policy actors in Italy. Click here to download.
The Prophet of Moderation: Tariq Ramadan’s Quest to Reclaim Islam
Click here to read the essay.
Islam and Identity in Germany
Jonathan Laurence researched and wrote a report on Muslims in Germany for the International Crisis Group.
Click here to read the report.
Islam und Staatsbürgerschaft in Deutschland.
Click here to read the article (in German).
Islam and Citizenship in Germany
An adaptation of the ICG report was published in a report on Muslims’ integration in Europe and the United States by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Fall 2007.
Click here to read the report.
L’integrazione è un problema che va oltre il velo
“Integration is a problem that goes beyond the veil”
Click here to read the article (in Italian)
Muslim-State Relations in 21st-Century Europe
The Migration Policy Institute published a report by Jonathan Laurence in October 2007. The report was written as a discussion paper for the German presidency of the European Union during the previous spring. View the press release here Read the full report here.
Knocking on Europe’s Door: Islam in Italy
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Friendly Fire: US-Italy Relations and the War in Iraq
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(Re)constructing Community in Berlin. Turks, Jews, and German Responsibility.
In 1998-1999, Jonathan Laurence was a DAAD fellow and guest scholar at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. This article is the result of his research year there.
Click here to read the article.
Click here to purchase reprint in the edited volume.
The New French Council on the Muslim Religion
Jonathan Laurence edited and co-authored a special issue of French Politics, Culture and Society in Spring 2005.
Click here to see the table of contents and/or to order a copy
Comparative Politics & State-Religion Relations in Modern Europe 