Local, national and global Islam: Religious Guidance and European Muslim Public Opinion on Political Radicalism and Social Conservatism

The attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and Kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015 as well as the announcement of a ‘Caliphate’ by radical Islamists of the so-called ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) in 2014 reignited the political and academic interest in the possible appeal of radical Islamism among young Muslims living in Western Europe. This analysis expands existing knowledge by adding a large-n, cross-country comparison to the small-n or single-case-study approaches dominating research on European Muslims over the last two decades. Moving beyond the examination of the interaction between European governments and groups claiming to represent European Muslims, this analysis takes into account the individualization of Muslim religious discourses, practices and identities. Binary logistic regression analyses challenge conventional wisdom emphasising discrimination and rejection of Western foreign policies in the explanation of political radicalism. Instead, religious guidance and socio-economic status emerge as consistent correlates of political and social attitudes among West-European Muslims. These findings not only add to a growing body of literature providing empirical evidence for the political impact of religious elites. They also have crucial policy implications for West-European governments working to maintain national security and social cohesion.