Selected Past Conferences | Conference February, 2010

Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center European Politics and Islam Part of the "Ethnic Conflict Studies Program" at the Bologna Center Sponsored by Jack and Carol Wasserman Fund and Wendy's/Arby's Group Foundation
This seminar series will focus on the way the presence of Islam in Europe has affected European politics. The contributions cover both thematic and country-specific topics, ranging from the impact on domestic institutions and voting behavior to the consequences for national and European foreign policies towards the Mashreqand the Maghreb. Next to analyzing domestic and foreign policy pressures at the “European”side of the relationship, attention is also drawn to the “other”side. This is reflected in the contributions exploring the influence of increased Euro-Islamic interaction on Muslim identities, including those that feed radicalization. The contributors come from across Europe and from countries with an Islamic background, and represent a mix of well-established and rising scholars specialized in the subject. Many European countries have witnessed a steep increase in the number of citizens with an Islamic background. As a result, throughout Europe, Islam has become more visible, and is increasing its impact, on daily life practices and on intellectual debates, at the political level and sometimes even at the economic level. Most likely, this trend will continue and will have lasting effects for the understanding of “Europe”, both internally as well as externally. A thorough understanding of the interaction between “Europe”and “Islam”is therefore of importance. This seems true when assessing future developments within the European continent. This also seems true with regard to Europe's relations to neighboring Muslim countries. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that the interaction is reshaping societies in different ways, as neither Europe, nor Islam can be considered monolithic entities. The interaction remains a function of differing histories, differing state structures, differing geographical and strategic interests, and differing Muslim backgrounds. Sometimes differences are subtle, at other times more outspoken. The lectures in this series try to capture the dynamics of this interaction, its differences and communalities between countries, its reflection on national foreign policies and its consequences at the European level.	12:30 Monday, February 8, 2010 Identity, Solidarity, and Islam in Europe Erik Jones Professor of European Studies, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center
	12:30 Thursday, February 18, 2010 Islam and Islamism in Europe's Common Foreign and Security Policy Timo Behr Research Fellow, Finnish Institute for International Affairs, Helsinki and Research Associate, Notre Europe, Paris
	12:30, Monday, February 22, 2010 Islam in European Law: Powerful Symbols and Symbols of Power Susanna Mancini Adjunct Professor of International Law, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center and Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, University of Bologna
	12:30, Monday, March 8, 2010 Secularism Confronts Islam Olivier Roy Joint Chair RSCAS, Professor of Social and Political Theory, European University Institute, Florence; Professor at the Écoledes HautesEtudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris and Senior Researcher, French National Centre for Scientific Research18
	18:30, Thursday, March 18, 2010 Islam and National Identity in France Jonathan Laurence Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boston College and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC18
	18:30, Thursday, March 25, 2010 Islamic Ethics and Liberation in Europe Tariq Ramadan Professor of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford; Senior Research Fellow, DoshishaUniversity (Kyoto, Japan) and Lokahi Foundation (London). President of the European think tank: European Muslim Network (EMN) in BrusselsThis Seminar is By Invitation Only. The invitation should be presented at the entrance.
	18:30, Thursday, April 8, 2010 Turkey in the European Union: An Islamic Challenge for European integration? Meltem Müftüler-Bac Professor of International Relations, SabanciUniversity, Istanbul18
	18:30, Monday, April 19, 2010 Current Discourses about Islam in Germany: Interests, Conditions for Inclusion and Organisational Development Dirk Halm Senior Researcher, Centre for Studies on Turkey, Duisburg-Essen University, Germany
	18:30, Thursday, April 29, 2010 Islam in Britain: Difficult Conversations, Unexpected Resilience Catherine Fieschi Director of Counterpoint, the British Council's Cultural Relations Think Tank, London
	12:30, Monday, May 3, 2010 Testing Dutch Tolerance Saskia Maria van Genugten Ph.D. Candidate, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University
	12:30, Monday, May 10, 2010 Islam in Italy KARIM MEZRAN Director, Center for American Studies, Rome and Adjunct Professor of Middle East Studies, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center

This lecture series will be published as a special issue of West European Politics, which is the premier academic journal on comparative politics in Europe. The lecture series is also partof a course offered to students at the SAIS Bologna Center in addition to being open for the public. In this way, contributors will have the opportunity to present their analysis and conclusions to a well informed audience, enabling them to process a wide range of comments and other supporting materials into their final articles. This is the third time that we have used this formula. The first was to prepare a special issue (July 2004) of International Affairs on the trans-Atlantic relationship and the second was to prepare a special issue (March 2008) of the Journal of European Integration on thefuture of European foreign policy. Our experience is that the interaction within and across seminars provides an ideal contextfor developing a coherent collection of essays. The organization of the series has much to do with the time commitments of the different participants. The selection of topics, however, reflects the intellectual objectives of the collection of essays as an edited volume. Five of the essays are thematic while the remaining six focus on specific national experiences. Principal Themes The thematic essays explore topics that affect the interaction between “Europe” and “Islam”in broad and encompassing terms. For example, the contribution by Tariq Ramadan will explore the challenge of being a Muslim within Europe and he will look at the influence of Europe on the ethics of Islam. These themes will recur in the essay by Olivier Roy as well, but his emphasis will be more closely centered on the impact of Islam on Europe than the other way around. Both Ramadan and Roy are extremely well known in the public debate and their writings on these subjects – while still evolving – have already had a significant impact. The value-added lies in the juxtaposition of their viewpoints and in the opportunity that this creates to foster an exchange. Other thematic essays will be more narrowly focused. Timo Behr will examine the security and foreign policy issues that arise both within Europe and as European countries seek to protect their interests in the Islamic world (and particularly the Middle East). His focus is as much on perception as on reality; a major part of the challenge is for Europeans to understand exactly what it is they hope to secure, as well as to understand how their efforts are perceived abroad. By implication, understanding Islam is part of the effort and explaining Europe is the rest. The twin challenge of understanding and explanation presupposes a clear distinction between Europe and Islam that may not safely be taken for granted –particularly given the reality that both sides change due to their interaction with one-another. This is true particularly within Europe, where the Islamic immigration has passed a threshold beyond which it can no longer escape public attention. This is the focus for the essay by Erik Jones who looks at how Europe's encounter with Muslim immigration is altering conceptions of both identity and solidarity and so challenge the European welfare state. The impact of such immigration on European legal norms is another consideration. Susanna Mancini explores how the spread of Muslim immigration has forced jurists in a number of countries to reconsider the appropriate constitutional balance between church and state. This reconsideration often centers on religious symbols, like head-scarves, but touches on issues that are much more fundamental, relating to, for example, freedom of expression, gender equality and family law. As a result, the question is not only how European ‘rules of the game' confront Islam, but also how Europe confronts itself.

National Experiences The overarching themes set the tenor for the debate. How they play out in specific countries, however, is where the real narrative is to be found. The situation in the Netherlands is a good example. As Saskiavan Genugten explains, non-native residents have become more assertive and less deferential. Dutch society has become (at least partly) less inclusive and more inhospitable as a result. Yet the demographics of the situation show that some reconciliation is unavoidable. Therefore it is relevant to ask how much longer and with what intensity populist will be able to play on the discomfort of the native Dutch population and whether Dutch politicians will find the wherewithal to insist on a less culture-based approach. The Dutch case is interesting because it has emerged as a recent flashpoint; the French case has been around much longer and presents a more lasting concern. Jonathan Laurence shows how such extensive interaction can create new modes of existence. Although it is true that Islamic groups in France have given rise to specific controversy, it is also worth noting how they have learned to give voice to their concerns. French Islamic leaders have become more skillful in their use of French institutions and more adaptive in their identity along the way. This is not to suggest that there is no longer any tension; rather it shows that there is some prospect for release. The Islamic community is not the only one to yield. As Dirk Halm shows in his analysis of political discourse in Germany, the native population can learn to adapt as well. Using an empirical coding of popular debates, Halm shows how German discourse about Islam has begun to drift in new directions, away from concerns about “Islamophobia” and security issues, and toward political accommodation. As in France, this convergence of views is only partial, nevertheless it does offer some hope for the German case. The situation in Italy is different. The Italian population is late to be sensitized to the threat of immigration and has only recently roused to high levels of fear and xenophobia. For Muslims in Italy, this makes a difficult environment for adaptation. Karim Mezran examines the efforts of the Islamic community in Italy to carve out a social niche for itself and to reconcile the often conservative views of recent immigrants with the idiosyncracies of Italy's cultural Catholicism. No study of Europe and Islam would be complete without a careful consideration of Turkey's situation on the boundary. As a secular republic with an Islamist government, Turkey manifests the often paradoxical dynamics of the Europe-Islam relationship. As Meltem Müftüler-Baç explains, one of the most obvious obstacles to Turkish European membership is the widespread perception within Europe that Turkey is an Islamic society; at the same time, however, the process of European Union accession has nurtured Turkish Islam's political ascendance. This brings the debate full circle, as Islamists within Turkey find their European vocation and Turkish secularists confront their Islamic nemesis. Acknowledgments This seminar series would not have been possible without the generous support of the Jack and Carol Wasserman Fund and the Wendy's/Arby's Group Foundation. SAIS Alumnus Jack Wasserman has been tireless in his efforts to help students (and faculty) develop better cross-cultural understanding in order to help eliminate ethnic conflict. We hope that the series will live up to this noble aspiration; we are sure the resulting volume will make an important contribution to academic debate.