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Political Tolerance among Muslim Minorities in Western Europe: The Role of Denomination and Religious and Host National Identification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2014

Maykel Verkuyten ,
Mieke Maliepaard ,
Borja Martinovic  and
Yassine Khoudja
Maykel Verkuyten*
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
Mieke Maliepaard
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
Borja Martinovic
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
Yassine Khoudja
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
*
Address for correspondence and reprint requests to: Maykel Verkuyten, Ercomer, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. E-mail [email protected]
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Abstract

Islam has emerged as the focus of immigration and diversity debates in Europe, especially in relation to the incorporation of Islam within political democracy. Using the least-liked group approach, the present study investigates political tolerance among Sunni and Alevi Muslims of Turkish origin living in Germany and the Netherlands. A relatively low level of political tolerance was found with higher intolerance of Alevis compared to Sunnis which was due to Alevis' strong rejection of religious fundamentalists. For both Muslim subgroups and in both countries, stronger religious group identification was associated with higher tolerance. Political tolerance was also found to be lower in Germany than in the Netherlands and in the latter country tolerance was positively associated with host national identification. The findings show that Islamic belief, Muslim group identification and the host national context are important for political tolerance.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 265 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2014 

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