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CHAIRPERSON

Prof Brenda Yeoh, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Taking four countries – Britain, the Netherlands, France and Germany- with distinct state approaches and public debates over accommodating Muslims, we study the views of ordinary people from the majority and Muslim populations on Muslim group rights. We compare their responses to questions on mosque-building, teachers wearing religious symbols, and religious classes in schools, to determine whether there is a significant ‘gap’ between the majority and Muslim minorities. We find highly significant ‘gaps’ between the majorities and Muslims over Muslim group rights in all countries, with the majorities less supportive. Importantly, it is a shift by the majority population against Muslim group rights that produces this ‘gap’ as the question moves from provision for Christians to Muslims, while Muslims hold similar views over rights for Christians and their own religion. In Britain and Germany, the two countries where church/state relations privilege Christianity over other religions, majorities especially support Christian over Muslim group rights. The British findings are remarkable, because a country which substantially grants and has the most supportive public debate for Muslim group rights, produces the largest ‘gaps’ between its majority and Muslims. We think this is due to political context, where in contrast to the Netherlands, there is no outlet for political opposition to Muslim group rights.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Paul Statham is Professor of Migration and Director of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR) in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS). Paul is a political sociologist and his current research focuses on three fields: the political accommodation of Islam and Muslim minorities in their European societies of settlement; the relationship between (national) politicization and international relations in shaping a state’s immigration policies; and marriage, lifestyle and retirement migration between Europe and SE Asia (Thailand). In 2015, he established the Sussex-Mahidol Migration Partnership (www.sussexmahidolmigration.co.uk) to build a capacity in migration research between Europe and SE Asia. Paul has written a number of collaborative monographs, edited volumes, more than 25 articles in refereed journals, and 30 book chapters. The books include Contested Citizenship (Minnesota UP 2005), The Making of a European Public Sphere (Cambridge UP 2010), and The Politicization of Europe (Routledge 2013). His earlier research focused on cross-national comparative approaches to migration, ethnic relations and citizenship in Europe, and the emergence of a transnational public sphere for the European Union. This programme of international collaborative research has been supported by eleven large grants from academic funding bodies, including the ESRC, EU framework programmes and ESF. He convenes the Migration MA and Doctoral Programme in Migration at Sussex. Paul was formerly a Professor at the University of Bristol and the University of Leeds. He was a researcher at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB) (1996-2000) and did his doctoral research at the European University Institute (EUI) in San Domenico di Fiesole.

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