Experience of Muslims in Eastern Europe

The chapter addresses the evolution of Islamic presence and Muslim experiences in two dozen post-socialist countries collectively comprising the region of Eastern Europe. In the first part, it traces the arrival of Islam and settlement of Muslims in this part of Europe through intermittent waves of migration, conversion, and conquest, their historical status, and governance of Islam in such empires as the Russian and Ottoman and later the communist-ruled USSR, SFRY, and other states. It then proceeds to the analysis of the contemporary situation of Muslims in the region through the prism of common phenomena, like forms and levels of religiosity among region’s Muslims, (re)institutionalization of Islam in post-socialist Eastern European states, depopulation of the Muslim segment through emigration, assimilation and other natural causes, radicalization of certain segments of national Muslim populations, (re)emergence of Islamophobia on the part of non-Muslim populations, and securitization of Islam by national governments and other actorsRegionistikos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Interfaith Dialogue: Seven Key Questions for Theory, Policy and Practice

Interfaith dialogue is increasingly being recognised by governments across Europe as crucial to developing cohesive communities. This article critically analyses approaches for developing strategies to promote interfaith dialogue between individuals and/or organisations within civil society. It does this by drawing on a series of theoretical questions concerning those who are involved (and missing), what the dialogue is for, and how the dynamics of participation and representation are handled. In the process, the article considers the conditions, spaces, processes, relationships and understandings of identity that can enable successful interfaith dialogue, and how these might be developed in ways which address the issues raised. The original theoretical analysis presented in this article is supported by examples from the author’s cumulative research with policymakers and practitioners across Europe since 2004

Pan‐Islamic ideals and national loyalties: Competing attachments amongst early Muslim activists in France

Islamist movements are often considered the epitomes of transnational movements; however, little is known about the concrete workings of their transnational ambitions. In investigating the evolution of Muslim activists in France from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, this article shows that their embrace of pan‐Islamic ideals initially conflicted with strong investment in (Arab) homeland politics. Later on, their engagement with a French Islam signalled less the emergence of a de‐territorialised, de‐culturalised Islamic identity than it did the assertion of new nationally bounded (French) attachments. Overall, the analysis sheds light on a stimulating puzzle regarding cosmopolitanism: the persistence of national forms of identification in movements that aspire to bypass national affiliations