Outcomes and Consequences of Muslim Participation

Abstract

This chapter attempts to explain the different outcomes of Muslim participation within the alter-globalisation movement. In particular, I look at why Muslim activists could form an electoral alliance with the radical left in Britain but not in France.¹ How did political opportunities affect the transition from involvement in social movements to participation in elections? In order to answer this question, I have adopted the explanatory model employed by Odmalm and Lees (2006), who studied migrant movements in Sweden and the Netherlands and their entry into electoral politics by comparing political opportunity structures.² These should not be thought of as creating rigid conditions which social movements and activists cannot do anything about. They are ‘not deterministic in their effect at all bur rather provide the settings for political agency’ (Odmalm and Lees 2006: 2). They help us understand why some outcomes may be more likely than others but should not be confused with hard-and-fast ‘rules’. The formation of the Respect coalition in Britain was, in many ways, an unexpected outcome of Muslim participation in social movements. However, French activists also cited entry into electoral politics as a political aim (some even seeing Respect as a kind of model). Why, then, were British Muslim activists able to form this electoral alliance with other elements of the radical left while French Muslims struggled to do the same? Related to this, why do French left-wing parties refuse to select Muslim activists as candidates in elections?