Muslims and the State in the Post-September 11 West

Muslims and the State in the Post-9/11 West
Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, Middlebury College
Robert A. Jones ’59 House Conference Room

"Muslims and the State in the Post-9/11 West" will gather together leading European and North American Scholars and practitioners to address the following questions: What have been the effects of post-9/11 security measures on Muslim communities in Western Europe and the United States? Are states treating Muslims differently compared to pre-9/11 and compared to how they treat other groups? What impact are state actions having on the integration of Muslims in terms of their relations with states and with other civil society groups?


April 20, 2007

9:45 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

Sunder Ramaswamy, Acting Dean of the Faculty, Middlebury College
Erik Bleich, Middlebury College

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Responding to Threats of Terrorism How are states responding to increased threats of terrorism in the post-9/11 era? What homeland security policies have they developed, and how have these affected Muslim communities? What factors influence the nature of anti-terrorist and homeland security policies in different countries?

• Chair: David Napier, Middlebury College
• Shamit Saggar, University of Sussex
“Policy Responses to Extremism and Extremist Sympathizers”
• Maurits van der Veen, University of Georgia
“Framing Anti-terrorism Policies: Debates inthe United Kingdom and the Netherlands”
• Jytte Klausen, Brandeis University
“Counter-Terrorism After 7/7: Adapting Community-Policing to the Fight Against Domestic Terrorism”
• Comments: Mark Carroll, Director Race, Cohesion and Faith, Department for Communities and Local Government, UK

1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Civic Integration of Muslims
How have immigrant integration policies changed in the aftermath of 9/11? Has there been a shift toward enforced integration and away from laissez-faire or state-supported multiculturalism? What specific impact have these policies had on Muslims?

• Chair: Armelle Crouzieres-Ingenthron, Middlebury College
• Christian Joppke, American University of Paris
“Limits of Integration Policy: Britain and her Muslims”
• Frank Buijs, University of Amsterdam
“Muslims in the Netherlands: Social and Political Developments after 9/11”
• John Bowen, Washington University
“Recognizing Islam in France after 9/11”
• Comments: Tariq Modood, University of Bristol 

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Muslim Claims-Making vis-à-vis European States
What is the nature of Muslim demands on Western states? Are they of a different nature than the demands of other immigrant or religious minority groups? Are they compatible with standard models of minority claims-making vis-à-vis the state, or do they pose particular challenges in Western Europe?

• Chair: Febe Armanios, Middlebury College
• Paul Statham, University of Bristol
“The Need to Take Religion Seriously for Understanding Multicultural Controversies”
• Tariq Modood, University of Bristol
“Muslims, Religious Equality, and Secularism”
• Comments: Baroness Kishwer Falkner, House of Lords, UK

9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Muslims in the United States
How has the United States responded to its domestic Muslim community? What are the opportunities and limitations of policymaking in the institutionally fragmented U.S., as compared to its more centralized European counterparts? How are Muslims responding to homeland security policies in the post-9/11 United States?

• Chair: Justin Stearns, Middlebury College
• Ihsan Bagby, University of Kentucky
“The American Mosque in Transition: Assimilation, Acculturation and Isolation”
• Geneive Abdo, Gallup organization and journalist
“Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11”
• Comments: Jytte Klausen, Brandeis University

11:00 am - 12:30 p.m. Transnational Islam
To what extent do Muslim identities in Western democracies transcend national boundaries? How are states responding to the transnational element of some domestic Muslim groups? Is it necessary to focus more on international policymaking and coordination when responding to domestic Muslim communities?

• Chair: Sujata Moorti, Middlebury College
• Peter Mandaville, George Mason University
“Muslim Transnational Identity and State Responses in the UK after 9/11: Political Community, Ideology and Authority”
• Riva Kastoryano, CNRS
“The Policy Implications of Islam as an Imagined International Community”
• Comments: David Low, Former National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats, the National Intelligence Council, USA

2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Overviews, Conclusions, and Challenges for the Future

• Chair: Fiona Adamson, University College London
• Erik Bleich, Middlebury College
• Baroness Kishwer Falkner, House of Lords, UK
• Cem Özdemir, Member of European Parliament, Germany
• Geneive Abdo, Gallup organization and journalist

Sponsored by:
Academic Enrichment Fund; Atwater Commons; Charles P. Scott Fund; Council for European Studies; Department of Arabic; Department of French; Department of Geography; Department of Political Science; Department of Sociology and Anthropology; International Students Organization; Max Kade German Fund; Office for Institutional Diversity; Rohatyn Center for International Affairs; Ross Commons; Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life; The Tillinghast Professorship in Religion, History, and Philosophy; Women's and Gender Studies; Wonnacott Commons