Amplifying the achievements of ‘good immigrants’: A political strategy under scrutiny in Germany and beyond

As immigration has taken centre stage in political debates across Europe in recent years, stories of brave deeds and outstanding achievements by immigrants have become a staple of reporting. Defenders of migrants’ rights in particular have crafted and amplified narratives of ‘exceptional’ individuals in order to combat rising anti-immigrant sentiment. Brave men, superheroes, and honorary…

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German-Saudi relations on the rocks over weapons sales, missionary activities

Germany has prolonged a temporary ban on weapons exports to Saudi Arabia until the end of March. While the question of whether to sell arms to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East has sprung up repeatedly in German public debates over the years, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has put it back in the…

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Muslims’ frustration with established religious associations spells sea change in German Islamic landscape

Germany’s major Islamic associations are in the midst of an upheaval – a development exemplified by the DİTİB organisation. A subsidiary of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), DİTİB is the largest of a bewildering array of Islamic associations operating in Germany, running 950 of the country’s roughly 2,600 mosques.1 The organisation has, however,…

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A new book sheds light on the ‘paradoxical’ nature of integration in Germany and beyond

In 2018, German sociologist Aladin El-Mafaalani scored a somewhat surprising best-seller: his book Das Integrationsparadox (‘The Integration Paradox’) shot into the top ten of German book sales, providing a counterweight to gloomy and populist pamphlets on immigrants’ failure to ‘integrate’ and of Germany’s impending ‘Islamisation’ otherwise dominating the commanding heights of the book market. Successes…

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Germany mulls ‘mosque tax’ to enhance control over Islamic places of worship

German policy-makers are debating the introduction of a so-called ‘mosque tax’, to be paid by German Muslims and collected by the German state in order to fund the provision of Islamic religious services. The ostensible model for such a levy is the ‘church tax’ (Kirchensteuer) already in existence: depending on their Land of residence, members…

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