Abstract
In explaining the nature of extremism in the context of the experiences of Muslim minority groups, a whole host of factors require deep consideration. The dominant view concentrates on how regressive politicization based on Islamic interpretations can contribute to violence, but few consider the wider social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics of Islamist extremism and terrorism. This chapter provides a holistic, analytical perspective focusing on Islamism in the West in particular, where immigration and settlement patterns, especially in the postwar context, are important starting points in this study. Due to these migration patterns, and questions of racism and discrimination in the host society, issues relating to intergenerational change and identity politics and how it leads to an Islamism based on resistance over time can be better understood. It also reveals the significance of current manifestations of Islamophobia and its impact on counter-terrorism policy and wider societal racism, where Islamophobia is the normalization of institutionally, ideologically, culturally, and politically bounded anti-Muslim prejudice. In conclusion, Muslim extremism in the West is almost entirely explainable as a function of structural and cultural disadvantage, where the political process has failed for young Muslims who are the sons and grandsons of immigrant groups how the violence exercised by these angry young men in, is the main, the realization of an accumulated series of exclusions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aarts, P., & Roelants, C. (2016). Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril. London: Hurst.
Abbas, T. (Ed.). (2017). Muslim diasporas in the west. Abingdon: Routledge.
Abrahamian, E. (2003). The US media, Huntington and September 11. Third World Quarterly, 24(3), 529–544.
Ahmed, A. S., & Donnan, H. (Eds.). (1994). Islam, globalisation and postmodernity. Basingstoke: Routledge.
Ali, T. (2003). The clash of fundamentalisms: Crusades, jihads and modernity. London: Verso.
Amiraux, V. (2005). Discrimination and claims for equal rights amongst Muslims in Europe. In J. Cesari & S. McLoughlin (Eds.), European Muslims and the secular state (pp. 25–38). London: Ashgate.
Anwar, M. (2008). Muslims in Western states: The British experience and the way forward. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 28(1), 125–137.
Arendt, H. (1970). On Violence. Boston, MA: Harcourt.
Bailey, G., & Edwards, P. (2016). Rethinking ‘radicalisation’: Microradicalisations and reciprocal radicalisation as an intertwined process. Journal for Deradicalisation, 12, 255–281.
Borum, R. (2011). Radicalization into violent extremism I: A review of social science theories. Journal of Strategic Security, 4(4), 7–36.
Cesari, J. (2004). When Islam and democracy meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chomksy, N. (2016). Powers and prospects: Reflections on human nature and the social order. London: Pluto.
Dalacoura, K. (2006). Islamist terrorism and the Middle East democratic deficit: Political exclusion, repression and the causes of extremism. Democratization, 13(3), 508–525.
El Hamel, C. (2002). Muslim diaspora in Western Europe: The Islamic headscarf (hijab), the media and Muslims’ integration in France. Citizenship Studies, 6(3), 293–308.
Feldman, M., & Pollard, J. (2016). The ideologues and ideologies of the radical right: An introduction. Patterns of Prejudice, 50(4–5), 327–336.
Ferrera, M. (2014). Ideology, parties and social politics in Europe. West European Politics, 37(2), 420–448.
Fetzer, J. S., & Soper, C. J. (2005). Muslims and the state in Britain, France and Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goodwin, M. (2013). The roots of extremism: The English Defence league and the counter-Jihad challenge. London: Chatham House Briefing Paper.
Goodwin, M. J., & Heath, H. (2016). The 2016 referendum, Brexit and the left behind: An aggregate-level analysis of the result. The Political Quarterly, 87(3), 323–332.
Halliday, F. (2003). Islam and the myth of confrontation: Religion and politics in the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris.
Hans-Georg, B. (2015). The two faces of radical right-wing populism in Western Europe. The Review of Politics, 55(4), 663–685.
Herbert, J. (2015). Testosterone: Sex, power, and the will to win. Oxford: OUP.
Hopkins, P. E. (2007). Young people, masculinities, religion and race: New social geographies. Progress in Human Geography, 31(2), 163–177.
Horgan J (2014) The psychology of terrorism. Abingdon Routledge.
Küçükcan, T. (2004). The making of Turkish-Muslim diaspora in Britain: Religious collective identity in a multicultural public sphere. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 24(2), 243–258.
Lentin, A., & Titley, G. (2012). The crisis of ‘multiculturalism’ in Europe: Mediated minarets, intolerable subjects. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 15(2), 123–138.
Mabon, S. (2016). Saudi Arabia and Iran: Power and rivalry in the Middle East. London: IB Tauris.
Maher, S. (2017). Salafi-Jihadism: The history of an idea. London: Penguin.
Mandeville, P. (2009). Muslim transnational identity and state responses in Europe and the UK after 9/11: Political community, ideology and authority. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35(3), 491–506.
Meer, N., Dwyer, C., & Modood, T. (2010). Embodying nationhood? Conceptions of British national identity, citizenship, and gender in the “veil affair”. The Sociological Review, 58(1), 84–111.
Morgan, G., & Poynting, S. (Eds.). (2016). Global Islamophobia: Muslims and moral panic in the west. London: Routledge.
Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. F. (2012). Muslim integration into Western cultures: Between origins and destinations. Political Studies, 60(2), 228–251.
Ostrand, N. (2015). The Syrian refugee crisis: A comparison of responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 3(3), 255–279.
Peach, C. (2009). Slippery segregation: Discovering or manufacturing ghettos? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35(9), 1381–1395.
Peach, C., & Glebe, G. (2005). Muslim minorities in Western Europe. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 18(1), 26–45.
Pew Research Center. (2016). U.S. Muslims concerned about their place in society. In But continue to believe in the American dream. Washington DC: Pew Research Centre.
Phillips, D. (2006). Parallel lives? Challenging discourses of British Muslim self-segregation. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(1), 25–40.
Pisoiu, D. (2015). Subcultural theory applied to jihadi and right-wing radicalization in Germany. Terrorism and Political Violence, 27(1), 9–28.
Poynting, S., & Mason, V. (2007). The resistible rise of Islamophobia: Anti-Muslim racism in the UK and Australia before 11 September 2001. Journal of Sociology, 43(1), 61–86.
Roy, O. (2010). Holy ignorance: When religion and culture part ways. London/New York: Columbia University Press/Hurst.
Saull, R. (2015). Capitalism, crisis and the far-right in the neoliberal era. Journal of International Relations and Development, 18(1), 25–51.
Schiffer, S., & Wagner, C. (2011). Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia - new enemies, old patterns. Race & Class, 52(3), 77–84.
Schmid, A. P. (2013). Radicalisation, De-radicalisation, counter-radicalisation: A conceptual discussion and literature review. The Hague: International Centre for Counterterrorism.
Schumann, C. (2007). A Muslim ‘diaspora’ in the United States? The Muslim World, 97(1), 11–32.
Sedgwick, M. (2010). The concept of radicalization as a source of confusion. Terrorism and Political Violence, 4(4), 479–494.
Shaffer, G. (2008). Racial science and British society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sheridan, L. P. (2006). Islamophobia pre– And post–September 11th, 2001. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21(3), 317–336.
Silverstein, P. A. (2005). Immigrant racialization and the new savage slot: Race, migration, and immigration in the new Europe. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34(1), 363–384.
Tyrer, D., & Sayyid, S. (2012). Governing ghosts: Race, incorporeality and difference in post-political times. Current Sociology, 60(3), 353–367.
Weller, P. (2013). A Mirror for our times: The Rushdie affair and the future of multiculturalism. London: Continuum.
Wiktorowicz, Q. (2004). Islamic activism: A social movement theory approach. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
World Policy Institute. (2011). Anatomy of Islamophobia. World Policy Journal, 28(4), 14–15.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Abbas, T. (2021). Muslims and Extremism. In: Lukens-Bull, R., Woodward, M. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32626-5_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32626-5_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32625-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32626-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities