Conflict Prevention Partnership - Islamic Activism in France and the Western Balkans

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On 10 March, a workshop organised in Paris by the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) in cooperation with the Conflict Prevention Partnership brought together a panel of experts to analyse the main trends and issues related to Islam in Europe. Welcomed by Dominique Moïsi, special advisor at IFRI, the workshop was presented by Fraser Cameron, senior adviser at the European Policy Centre; Alain Délétroz, vice-president Europe at the International Crisis Group; and Denis Bauchard, responsible for the Maghreb/Middle East unit at IFRI.

Patrick Haenni, who researched the Crisis Group report on “France and its Muslims: Riots, Jihadism and Depoliticisation” (see below), presented its main findings, explaining that violence and jihadist militancy result from a global crisis in political representation of Muslim populations rather than from a radicalisation of Islam itself. As developed in the Crisis Group report, the weakening of the associative network within the French suburbs through the progressive withdrawal of movements of young Muslims, as well as the neutralisation of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France, have significantly reduced the militancy space. The rising religious form of Salafism, expanding into this vacuum, formalises the break-up between the religious and the political areas and adds a new dynamic to the Islamist scene: reflecting the growth of individualist concerns, it also echoes a tendency to retreat from French society and to opt out from politics. Such depoliticisation of the religious combined with an individualised population in the general framework of social discrimination and islamophobia makes the crucial political demands from populations problematic and they are not properly addressed. The failure of militancy space appears therefore as a powerful explanation to violence expressed through jihadi Salafism and rioting. 

Khadija Mohsen-Finan, research fellow in the Maghreb/Middle East unit at IFRI, developed the question of Islam with regard to the French debate on secularity, showing that there is an implicit redefinition of the “pacte laïque” that takes into account the reconstruction of the religious landscape. Islam’s specificity in France relies on the colonial link between the country and its immigrated populations from Maghreb and the security viewpoint adopted towards Muslims since the 90s and especially since 9/11: Islam is at this time amalgamated to the Middle East international issues. Combined to the reconstruction of religious identities, these factors generate a kind of “modern fear” of Islam – crystallised on the veil debate – which is fuelled by two main elements: identities that are displayed and linkages with the outside world, increased by the role played by the media that reported for example the Algerian war or the terrorism of the 90s. The new Muslim generations who now have claims related to their identity are seen through the prism of the Muslim world disorder, and appear as a challenge to the French society and its republican principle rather than as a societal fact.

On the European level too, the role of Islam is a fundamental issue. Xavier Bougarel, research fellow at CNRS, questioned the role of Balkan Muslims in an enlarged Europe. The enlargement of the EU could undeniably support conflict resolution in this area and Balkan Muslims could contribute to the eventual development of a « Euro-Islam ».

Although Balkan Muslim populations are divided into linguistic groups – Albanian, Slavic, Turkish and Romany-speaking – and along national and/or ethnical lines, they share socio-economic and cultural features that differentiate them from Muslim living within the EU. Whilst the establishment of Communist regimes meant the dismantlement of traditional religious institutions, the collapse of those regimes led to the politicisation of Balkan Muslim populations, expressing the rejection of their status of non-sovereign minorities. Political parties representing Muslim populations voiced their claims and this led to a nationalisation of Islam. This phenomenon, characterised by the emergence of competing religious actors, challenges the religious institutions’ former monopoly over religious life and is coupled with a diversification and individualisation of religious practices.

Besides, since 1990 Balkan Islam has reintegrated within global Islam. Though jihadist networks in the Balkans are the most spectacular aspects of this evolution, the central dimension are the long-term political, economic and religious relationships with Turkey. Turkey joining the European Union would thus have a key impact on the development of a Balkan Islam and a European Islam based notably on exchanges between Balkan Muslims and Turkish religious actors, which could offset Neo-Salafi influence in South-East Europe. Moreover, clear divergences between Balkan Islam and the EU regarding their type of political mobilisation and religious organisation should not overshadow the eventual formulation of a European Islam and the formation of a pan-European Islamic public space, through the establishment of Balkan Muslim diasporas, the creation of pan-European religious forums and the common resort to institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament.