Islamic Activism and Citizenship: The Cases of United States and United Kingdom

• In Event: Religion and Mobilization

Abstract

Muslim citizens of the Western world have had to carve out their political space and justify their public activities, especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. We comparatively study the Muslim citizen/advocacy organizations in the UK and US and investigate what type of interventions they have made to the political sphere in two highly securitized contexts post 9/11. How do Muslim NGOs negotiate religious and political identities? Which domestic and international issues do they work on, and which channels do they use to affect policy? How do these organizations perceive each other? Based on interviews and primary documents, we trace how the Muslim advocacy organizations shape understandings of citizenship and visions of policy in the two countries they live in (UK and US) while questioning the differences and commonalities in perspectives and challenges between the two contexts. We discuss how our findings can influence future studies on Islam, diasporas, advocacy organizations and foreign policy.

Authors

• Nukhet Ahu Sandal, Ohio University

• Ahmet Erdi Ozturk, London Metropolitan University