Recognising Islam in France after 9/11

Abstract

French policies regarding Muslim institutions have been developing since the 1980s and reflect long-term patterns of controlling certain religious institutions through supporting them. Current policies are motivated in part by the desire to enhance internal security by making Islamic activities more visible. I argue that a long-term approach to security ought to place as much emphasis on building equal access to religious institutions (as well as to employment and housing) as on police actions regarding potentially violent individuals.

Keywords:

• Islam
• France
• Security
• State

Notes

1. Bobigny was not the first such case; the Mosquée Ad-Da'wa in Paris’ nineteenth arrondissement, for example, also has two such associations. Because the regions of Alsace and Lorraine were part of Germany in 1905, when the law on laïcité was passed, and only rejoined France after World War I, they remain under the legal regime that existed in 1870 when they were incorporated into Germany. This regime included the Concordat. Cities in these regions can thus grant direct subsidies to religious groups. The Strasbourg city government, for example, has proposed to fund 10 per cent of the costs of construction of the new city mosque.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John R. Bowen

John R. Bowen is Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts and Sciences, Sociocultural Anthropology at Washington University-Saint Louis