State Responses to ‘Muslim’ Violence: A Comparison of Six West European Countries

Abstract

This essay examines contemporary state responses to associations between Muslims and violence in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. It stresses the critical role of violence as a spur to recent policy developments, but argues that state actions since 9/11 have to be seen in the context of rising associations between Muslims and violence since the 1980s. States have responded to these associations with an overlapping three-pronged strategy that consists of enacting generic anti-violence policies, repressing religious violence and integrating religious minorities.

Keywords:

• Muslims
• Violence
• Policy-Making
• Europe
• Integration

Acknowledgements

For valuable comments, I thank Jocelyne Cesari, Walker Connor, Matt Dickinson, Murray Dry, Paul Frymer, Christian Joppke, Farhad Khosrokhavar, Jytte Klausen, Jonathan Laurence, Tariq Modood, Carolyn Warner, Patrick Weil, Michael Werz, Mark Williams and the Middlebury College Political Science Department Faculty Research Group. Sincere appreciation also goes to Noah Walker for research assistance and constructive comments, and to the Mellon Foundation and Middlebury College for a grant that enabled me to write this essay.

Notes

1. Although violence seems an intuitive concept, specialists employ widely varying definitions of the term, ranging from a narrow one that includes only an action that ‘immediately inflicts physical damage on persons and/or objects’ (Tilly 2003: 3) to a broad one that incorporates ‘actions that inflict, threaten, or cause injury’, where injuries may be ‘corporal, psychological, material or social’ (Jackman 2002: 387, 405). See also Brubaker and Laitin (1998); Das et al. (2000); Heitmeyer and Hagan (2003); Imbusch (2003); and Tedeschi and Felson (1994).

2. See Expatica, 11 February 2005; Christian Science Monitor, 19 October 2005; BBC News, 22 June 2004; Spiegel Online, 2 March 2005. In France, Gaspard and Khosrokhavar (2003: 61–2) give an example of a similar type of murder. France's Ni Putes, Ni Soumises movement also highlights violence against women by concentrating on its presence in the ‘cités’, or disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Although the movement explicitly discusses connections between violence and Islam, it does not focus primarily or exclusively on this link in its analysis (see Amara 2003).

3. New York Times, 20 October 2004. Abu Hamza al-Masri was the imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque, which both Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui reportedly attended before their arrests.

4. The EUMC subsequently distanced itself from the findings, citing methodological problems in the analysis; the agency responsible for undertaking the research has defended its conclusions.

5. It should be noted that European Muslims have also been the targets of violent acts for decades. In particular, following 11 September 2001, the European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) launched a study of Islamophobia in each of the 15 member-states, finding startling examples of physical violence against Muslims in most countries, the targeting of mosques and Islamic cultural centres for damage, and widespread ‘verbal abuse, harassment, and aggression’ (EUMC 2002: 7).

6. http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/STI060101001_1.pdf.

7. Euractiv, ‘Anti-Terrorism Policy’, 16 March 2005, online at: http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-136674-16&type=LinksDossier.

8. See the Prime Minister's website at: http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/information/actualites_20/securite_un_plan_vigipirate_38900.html?var_recherche=terrorisme. It specifically cites 11 September 2001 as a motive for the changes.

9. See the German Federal Government's website at: http://www.bundesregierung.de/en/News-by-subject/International-,11108/Fight-against-terrorism.htm.

10. France began its monitoring programme following the bombings of the mid-1990s (UPI, 31 December 2001) and currently has undercover agents reporting weekly to the Ministry of the Interior (ANSA English Media Service, 26 August 2004). On the Netherlands, see New York Times, 10 November 2004. In Spain, the Interior Minister's proposal for a law permitting the state to monitor ‘small mosques’ especially closely was quite contentious and eventually withdrawn (El Pais, 2 May 2004). In Germany, both the state and the media have engaged in the monitoring of mosques (Ottawa Citizen, 17 November 2004). Italy's special operations forces (DIGOS) have used listening devices and wiretaps to monitor activities in the Cremona mosque (BBC Monitoring International Reports, 27 February 2004). On Britain, see New York Times, 25 January 2005. Police in the Netherlands have reported observing up to 10,000 Muslims as ‘potential terrorists’, UPI, 16 June 2004, and an official in the Dutch Justice Ministry revealed that more than 150 individuals were being actively investigated for suspected militantism (New York Times, 4 November 2004). On Spain, see New York Times, 24 October 2004.

11. In the Netherlands, these proposals followed the assassination of Theo van Gogh in November 2004 (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 9 February 2005).

12. The Government Reply to the Report from the Religious Offences Committee, Session 2002–03, HL 95, Cm 6091. It appears unlikely that blasphemy provisions will be overhauled in either country.

13. The bill grants legal recognition to religious groups that agree to respect Italian laws. The Northern League vowed to prevent passage of this bill. ANSA, 23 November 2004, 20 January 2005.

14. Spiegel Online, 14 November 2004; Die Welt, 15 November 2004. This proposal was also floated in the Netherlands in 2002 (Guardian, 1 October 2002). In neither country does it appear likely to become law.

15. The mandate also requires them to prove that they are ordained or have been practicing as a minister for at least 12 months out of the preceding five years. See http://www.workpermit.com/news/2004_08_23/uk/immigration_rules_for_ministers_of_religion.htm; also Kraler (2007).

16. Article 1 of Law 2004–228 of 15 March 2004 states ‘Dans les écoles, les collèges et les lycées publics, le port de signes ou tenues par lesquels les élèves manifestent ostensiblement une appartenance religieuse est interdit’ (In state primary and secondary schools and colleges, the wearing of symbols or clothing through which pupils overtly demonstrate their religious affiliation is forbidden).

17. Agence France-Presse, 11 November 2004. The other regions that have outlawed headscarves are Hesse, Lower Saxony, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saarland. Hesse has applied the ban to all civil servants.

18. BBC, 16 January 2006; Aljazeera, 9 March 2006; BBC, 17 November 2006. Local authorities in Belgium and Italy had also previously enacted or enforced bans on burqas, justifying the move by arguing that appearing masked in public presents a threat to security (IHF 2005: 46, 100–01).

19. The ‘EU Plan of Action on Combating Terrorism—Update: Contribution from Europol’ demonstrates that EU police are devoting significant attention to the specific threat of ‘Islamic terrorism’ (see http://www.statewatch.org/news/2005/may/europol-terr-plan.pdf.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erik Bleich

Erik Bleich is Associate Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College