Europe, Security and Islamism

European security is linked to several internal and external issues, and both a local and regional one is Islamism. It is an internal security issue because of the growing Muslim community settled or born in Europe. However, the status of Muslims in Europe is still problematic regarding the widespread feelings of marginalisation and demonisation. Neither the assimilation model, nor the integration model has prevented national tensions or violent actions. In the past decades, the issue was a question of integrating external values imported by Maghreb and Asian immigrants; nowadays, it is a question of accepting new national values defended by native Muslims and European converts. Islamism is also a peripheral challenge because of the double proximity of the Middle East with the Arab–Israeli conflict on the one hand, and the Maghreb under pressure of violent Islamist groups on the other. This second source of instability is a bigger challenge regarding the intense interactions between Europe and the Maghreb, its southern neighbourhood. The three factors that complicate the management of Islamism, namely the different perceptions of the threat, interstate relations and the question of democratisation, and the European Union preventive and reactive strategies, are treated in this article

Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · European Neighbourhood Policy · European union · Immigration · Internal security · International trade · Middle East · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Terrorism · Law · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

• Les attentes du monde arabe à l’égard de l’Union européenne

  Open Access•François Burgat•L Année du Maghreb•2007

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