Muslim Political Participation in Britain Post-9/11

Abstract

The participation of citizens in the political life has become a pivotal tool in contemporary societies as it accommodates multiple dimensions and different facets affecting citizens’ life that include issues of a social, economic, religious, intellectual, and political dimensions. The reasons for immigrant and their descendants' participation in politics of the host country are not much different from those of original inhabitants of country. They seek to primarily achieve gains, public or private, moral or material, and aim at changing their living situation to the better. On the other hand, many factors stimulate or discourage the participation of citizens, immigrant and non-immigrant, in politics. These are related to the nature of the existing political system and the state preferences and its interest in citizens' participation in addition to some parameters like the economic and learning level of citizens and their age, etc. British Muslim political participation is subject to cultural and religious beliefs and values leading sometimes to clashes between what Muslims aspire to achieve and what the British state and society allow; in this case isolation and rupture develop as an alternative to participation. The interest of Muslims in politics and their political awareness of the necessity for a political integration were developed over stages. With the emergence of a second and a third generation of immigrants' children, Muslims moved from the status of mere immigrant workers disinterested in public affairs into active syndicalist citizens interested in new issues and in community work due to the fact that the factory, the mosque, and school formed the first preoccupation of Muslims in the British Society.