Are Muslim and Western European values generally incompatible? Discuss with reference to the Turkish accession to the European Union - publié le 01/04/2013

Résumé du document

The famous French poet Paul Valéry defined Europe as the geographic place in which one the Christianity has a huge influence on the spirit of society, the Roman Empire on legal systems, and where the philosophy is still inspired by Greeks thinkers. In this definition, the Europe tends to be seen as a civilization, but other thinkers such as Voltaire or Herodotus defend the fact that Europe is made of political systems in which the liberty and the law are important.

Nowadays, in Europe, inside and outside the European Union (EU), lots of politicians tend to denounce the Muslim immigration as a threat for the societies, as the French extreme-right candidate for the presidential elections Marine Le Pen. The Muslim population is seen in Netherlands by the population as incompatible with the western European state because it would be too authoritarian, especially with the children and the women. Indeed, 9 Dutch on 10 think that women in Netherlands are oppressed (Sniderman, 2007).

Because of the precepts of this religion, a conflict of values would occur between Western European and Muslim immigrants, and that in a lot of European states, at least in the spirit of the populations. Muslims in Europe are sometimes associated with terrorists, especially because of the conjuncture, just after the 09/11/2001 for example. The values of the Western European states can be defined around the notion of liberty and the equality notably between sexes. Sometimes, these values can be challenged by the radical precepts of Islam. But a country such as Turkey, which is led by an Islamic political party, succeeded in democratizing its institutions

Extraits

[...] It shows that Muslim values and Western European one can be conciliated. But this country is mainly Muslim, so we could wonder if Muslim and European values are not only compatible only in the Islamic countries. Another question is interesting about that: the political and societal systems that the post-Arabic revolution countries will adopt. As the liberty of choice has been given to the people, we will see if the Turkish case is an exception or if these two systems of values are generally compatible. [...]

[...] The universalism theory is challenged by the way of life of Muslims, and the State fails to give the good answers. The French state is in difficulty, because it has to promote the principle of laïcité and to reassure a population afraid by the Muslim population, as the recent raise of the extreme-right in France shows it. The main problem with this concept of assimilation is the fact that it can be considered as a negation of the differences. In the Netherlands, where the multiculturalism has been pushed to its extreme, the gap between Muslims and others seem to be growing. [...]

[...] and Western Europe: Bridge or Barrier to Inclusion? International Migration Review 42 pp360-92 Koopmans, Ruud, Paul Statham, Marco Giugni, and Florence Passy (2005), Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press; chapter 4. Rowley, Charles K., and Smith, Nathanël (2009), Islam's Democracy Paradox: Muslims Claim to like Democracy, so Why Do They Have so Little?, Public Choice Vol No. (June 2009), pp273-299 Scott, Joan Wallach (2010), The Politics of the Veil, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Introduction Sniderman, Paul M., and Louk Hagendoorn (2007), When Ways of Life Collide, Princeton: Princeton University Press; chapter 2. [...]

[...] But, because of the fear of the public opinion, the incompatibility of societies with Muslim values, the Muslim populations are becoming in a certain extent more radical in their claims (Klausen, 2006). So it is not only that Islam is not compatible with Western European values, but also that European societies do not succeed in integrating these populations. This is illustrated by the fact that the Turkey became a state that could enter in the European Union. The Turkey applied to become a member of the European Union in 1987, and is officially in negotiations since 2005. [...]

[...] This concept is interesting to define the fact that Turkey has changed some parts of its juridical system, of the penal code, or again tried to diminish the influence of the military power (Benhabib and Isiksel, 2006). The fact is that Turkey tends to appropriate the Western European values while it transforms its society. Of course, there are still tensions points, as the deny of the freedom of speech for the political opponents to the political power, or the non-recognition of minorities inside the Islam. [...]