Executive Summary

Abstract

Before 9/11 government policy did not generally target minority Muslim communities beyond broad based policies aimed at fostering multiculturalism, integration, and social cohesion. However, in the last decade or so that has all changed. Muslims are now front and center of a global debate in so-called secular states about growing radical-ization, the legitimacy of Muslim actors, and generally Islamophobic fears about Islamization as a challenge to traditional national identities. At no time has this been stressed more greatly than in 2015 when the conflict in Syria and instability in other parts of the Middle East and Africa has triggered new cases of terrorism in Europe conducted by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or its affiliates and a tsunami of asylum-seekers attempting to enter Europe. More than 350,000 migrants were at the EU border between January and August 2015, more than the total figure for 2014.¹ Germany alone, expects to receive 800,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in 2015, a four-fold increase on 2014.² Although there are complexities surrounding European immigration policy, what is certain is that some will inevitably choose to remain in Europe and this could have a major effect on the composition, politics, and policies of European societies.