In many European states, multiculturalism has recently come under attack, being openly questioned by many in both the public and political spaces as being in ‘crisis’. Prompting many of these attacks have been incidents or events - typically interpreted as ‘controversies’ - that have involved or centred on issues relating to Muslims or Islam. Having ramifications in the social, cultural or political spaces, many have seen these controversies as accentuating the ‘problem’ of Muslims and Islam. Focusing on a number of these ‘crises’ and ‘controversies’, this book seeks to interrogate the theories of Islamophobia through the lens of a series of different ‘crises and controversies’ that have involved - or have been perceived as involving - Muslims or Islam.
This book critically engages these ‘crises and controversies’ through the framework of the definitions, theories and concepts explored in the author’s earlier book Islamophobia (Ashgate, 2010). Allen’s latest book sets out to: better understand where, how and why the responses of both the right, left and centre of the European political spectrum are seemingly converging in views and attitudes towards Muslims and Islam; contribute additional knowledge to the still relatively under-researched yet extremely timely phenomenon of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred; and consider how this links to and affects attitudes and expressions manifested in the public and social spaces. Employing a largely thematic approach, this book focuses on the linked impacts of a range of different controversies that have occurred at the local, national and regional levels. These include: Invasion and Islamification - Eurabia and the Islamic Invasion; Physical and Material - minarets and mosques; Culture and ‘Our Way of Life’ - between us and them; Values and Freedoms - veils, hijabs and niqabs; Speech and Offence - cartoons and caricatures; Terrorism and Threat - ‘home-grown bombers’ to externa
