Tariq Modood

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders of civil society organisations that represent or advocate for ethno-religious minorities in Britain, this article reconstructs the justifications they put forward for religious freedom and accommodation in the workplace. Findings suggest that, in line with theories of multiculturalism, progressive and pro-diversity political actors view ethno-religious accommodation as a way of promoting individual choice of religious and national identities, intercultural dialogue and learning, and inclusive conceptions of citizenship. In this sense, they conceive demands for accommodation as part of a struggle for respect or recognition, and workplaces as a key site where this struggle unfolds.

We respond to three reviews of our The New Governance of Religious Diversity (2024), by A. Sophie Lauwers, Pier-Luc Dupont, and Simon Thompson, respectively. Lauwers focuses on our rendering of the notion of recognition. From a critical religion perspective she asks us to consider how misrecognition is often intertwined with recognition. Dupont focuses on the issue of education, particularly faith schools, and from a liberal human rights perspective points to potential limitations for equality in our approach, as he sees them. Thompson is already ‘on board’ with our project, but going beyond it he offers a creative attempt to develop some of that project using analogies drawn from the political science of democratization. We respond to each of them in turn.

It has been suggested that multiculturalism has contributed to majority anxieties and thereby to the current polarisation. This article focuses on how to tackle and lessen this polarisation, which is fostering mutual distrust and threatening the national, democratic citizenships upon which any multiculturalist, egalitarian and unifying project must be built and so which multiculturalists, together with others, must defend. This does not involve giving up on multiculturalism but, rather, developing a multicultural national identity to which all citizens can have a sense of belonging without giving up other identities that are important to them. The goal should be that such a multicultural sense of the national can be adapted to be part of an electoral majority on a stable, continuing basis; above all, such a sense of the national allows one to be sensitive to minority identity vulnerabilities and majority identity anxieties within an integrated theoretical and political framework.

Post-immigration multiculturalism is challenged by the presence of Muslims and Islam like no other group or religion. The controversial relationship between multiculturalism and Muslims may be traced back to the fact that both Canada's pioneering policy of state multiculturalism and the first wave of liberal multiculturalists in the 1990s left religion peripheral. This was until 9/11, which many commentators declared killed multiculturalism. Even now, of all identity groups, Muslims seem to be the only one that Canadians consider problematic (especially, but not only, in Quebec), while there are significant populist political parties in Europe, some in government, that make opposition to ‘Islamicisation’ central to their politics. This chapter will consider why multiculturalism has a problem with Muslims and how one group of scholars, the ‘Bristol school of multiculturalism’, makes the inclusion of Muslims not just central to the problem-definition but to the goal of contemporary multiculturalism.

This engaging seminar explores the dynamics of multicultural nationalism and its role in contemporary socio-political polarization, offering researchers vital insights into fostering inclusive national identities. Led by professor Tariq Modood from the University of Bristol, participants will acquire skills to critically analyze identity politics and develop strategies for depolarization and national cohesion.

Au cours de l’histoire européenne, la religion et la politique ont entretenu des liens très divers. En raison des processus de construction de l’État, des changements démographiques et des flux migratoires, l’Europe abrite aujourd’hui une « variété déconcertante » de systèmes de relations Église-État (Davie, 2000, p. 15), ainsi que d’arrangements juridiques, institutionnels et politiques relatifs aux liens entre l’État et la religion. Cela rend les tentatives pour parler d’une «