Sovereignty, security and muscular liberalism : debating 'Sharia courts' in Britain

The working paper considers the political rhetoric of ‘muscular liberalism’. Following David Cameron, ‘muscular liberalism’ is understood as a paradigm of assertive policy-making in lieu of ‘state multiculturalism’. While this orientation has achieved some prominence, its origins as well as its political effects have not been convincingly explored. A ‘stimulus-response model’, which points towards the Muslim presence in European states as the trigger for the muscular stance, fails to capture the phenomenon. It is furthermore unclear in what relevant sense the requirements that muscular rhetoric levels towards Muslims can be said to qualify as ‘liberal’ or how the reference to tensions within the ‘liberal tradition’ would illuminate the muscular position. The purpose of the paper, then, is to work towards a definition that allows considering political functions and situational potentials, in particular the projection of a desired muscular identity. It draws on the mobilization against ‘Sharia Courts’ in the UK, and the attempt to curtail their operation with the Arbitration and Mediation (Equality) Services Bill, to clarify such potentials

Citizenship, nationality and immigration in Germany

Starting in the 1960s, Germany experienced a surge in immigration, predominantly from Turkey. These immigrants were essential to Germany’s economic growth, but the country was slow to recognize these migrants as citizens. Citizenship reforms introduced in 2000 have widened the terms of state membership, but fears over the “divided loyalties” of immigrants persist among many Germans. What has been the public conversation in Germany – among conservatives and liberals – as access to citizenship has expanded? What have been the catalysts for greater pluralism as well as the sources of resistance since Germany’s reunification

Zivilisation und Politik. Positionen in der Beschneidungsdebatte [Civilisation and politics: positions in the debate on male circumcision]

English: The debate of underage male circumcision, which has been provisionally concluded with the adoption of §1631d (German Civil Code) in 2012, illustrates the new significance of liberal and civic motifs in struggles over religious minority culture. In the self-image of political actors, but also in academic accounts, such motifs often appear determinate and actionable. In contrast, this contribution examines critical perspectives on male circumcision and draws attention to the ambivalence of liberal arguments and the political circumstances of their deployment. Deutsch: Die Debatte über die Beschneidung von Jungen, die 2012 durch Verabschiedung des §1631d BGB zumindest parlamentarisch abgeschlossen wurde, unterstreicht die neue Bedeutung liberaler und bürgerschaftlicher Motive in Auseinandersetzungen über religiöse Minderheitskultur. Im Selbstverständnis politischer Akteure, wie auch in der wissenschaftlichen Bewertung, erscheinen diese Motive oft richtungsweisend und handlungsleitend. Demgegenüber verweist dieser Beitrag in einer Untersuchung beschneidungskritischer Debattenbeiträge auf die Uneindeutigkeit liberaler Argumente und die Bedeutung ihrer politischen Rahmenbedingungen

The missing politics of muscular liberalism

The article examines the idea of muscular liberalism, first invoked by David Cameron as a paradigm of assertive policy-making in opposition to “state multiculturalism”. The rhetoric of muscular liberalism is present across Western Europe, but its political effects have not been convincingly explored. In scholarship on ethnic minority integration, a “stimulus-response model” credits Muslim intransigence as the trigger for the muscular stance. Other commentators put muscular liberalism into a genealogical perspective, but do little to consider the circumstances of its political deployment. Working towards an alternative account, the article examines two instances of muscular liberalism in Britain: the campaign against “Sharia Courts” and the “Trojan Horse” affair. Different from the concern with historical continuity or stable potentials of liberal normativity, it draws attention to political operations and strategic calculations that characterize the deployment of muscular liberalism in British politics

Challenges to Tolerance in Political Life: A comparative overview of 15 European countries

Work Package 4: National Case Studies of Challenges to Tolerance in Political LifeThe ACCEPT PLURALISM project (2010-2013) is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. (Call FP7-SSH-2009-A, Grant Agreement no: 243837). Coordinator: Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

What is important in theorizing tolerance today?

if one wants to grasp tolerance politically, that is, as a problem of power and as organizing relations among citizens, subjects, peoples or states, then it must be understood, inter alia, as being enacted through contingent, historically specific discourses - linguistically organized norms operating as common sense. [...]any political discourse of tolerance - from that developed for handling Protestant sectarianism in seventeenth-century England to that used by the G.W. Bush Administration in the aftermath of 9/11 to distinguish the West from the rest, to that used by the Israeli state for describing (only) its policies toward homosexuals - is embedded within other discourses articulating the qualities and meanings of the religious, cultural, social or political order that the discourse of tolerance purports to pacify. [...]tolerance, correctly understood, is a virtue of the public use of reason

Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in Europe: Theoretical perspectives and contemporary developments

Work Package 2: Concepts and Theories on Tolerance and Cultural DiversityDrawing on contributions from Bader Veit, Honohan Iseult, Mouritsen Per, Olsen Tore Vincents, Schiffauer Werner and Triandafyllidou AnnaThe ACCEPT PLURALISM project (2010-2013) is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. (Call FP7-SSH-2009-A, Grant Agreement no: 243837). Coordinator: Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

New knowledge about the United Kingdom

Work Package 5: New Knowledge on Tolerance and Cultural Diversity in EuropeThe ACCEPT PLURALISM project (2010-2013) is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. (Call FP7-SSH-2009-A, Grant Agreement no: 243837). Coordinator: Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute