Islamic Organizations in Europe and the USA: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology)

This volume explores the variety of forms, strategies and practices of Islamic organizations in Europe and the United States. It focuses on the reactions of organized Muslims at local, national, and transnational levels to the on-going debates on their integration into society and the structures of state-church relations. This volume explores the extraordinary variety of Islamic organizations in Europe and the United States. It focuses on the question of how local, national and transnational environments and changing public discourses on Muslims and Islam affect Islamic organizations and their members. The contributions all employ a bottom-up research approach and uncover diverse reactions of Islamic organizations in their forms of organization, strategies and practices. Compiling twelve studies from researchers of a variety of disciplines, this volume provides theoretical and empirical findings on Islamic organizations from the Baltic States, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US Front Matter....Pages N1-xvi Multidisciplinary Research on Islamic Organizations: Heterogeneous Organizational Forms, Strategies, and Practices....Pages 1-9 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Islamic Organizations in Poland: From Monopoly to Pluralism....Pages 13-36 Civil Liberties or Civil Rights? Muslim American Advocacy Organizations....Pages 37-53 Divided or Conquered: The Challenges of Organizational Life for Muslims in the UK and Spain....Pages 54-75 Front Matter....Pages 77-77 The Impact of Public Debates on Muslim Representatives in Western Europe: The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media....Pages 79-94 Negotiating the Visibility of Islam in Switzerland: An Ethnographic Perspective on the Conflicts Involved with Building Projects for Mosques....Pages 95-110 Islamic Organizations in the Baltic States: Commonalities and Differences....Pages 111-128 Not Quite In, Not Quite Out: Islamic Organizations in France and Germany and Their Ties to Their States of Origin....Pages 129-149 Neither Omnipotent nor a Paper Tiger: The Federation of the Alevi Communities in Germany and the Dynamics of Its Multidimensional Area of Activity....Pages 150-166 Front Matter....Pages 167-167 Imams in Flanders, Belgium: Toward the First Flemish Imams....Pages 169-185 Religious Practices of DITIB Mosque Community Members: Perspectives from Germany....Pages 186-202 Identities, Islamophobia, and the State: Diverse Perspectives and Experiences of Muslim Civic Actors from Islamic Organizations in the UK....Pages 203-223 The Gülen Movement in Western Europe and the USA....Pages 224-241 Conclusion: Similarities and Differences of Islamic Organizations in Europe and the USA....Pages 242-252 Back Matter....Pages 253-258