Nativist and Islamist Radicalisms in Europe: Focusing on Similarities

Ayhan Kaya, Istanbul Bilgi University

Based on the findings of extensive fieldwork conducted in different European cities (n = 307 in-depth interviews held with young European citizens in the 18-30 age bracket in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands), this talk elaborates on what is lurking behind the relational and reciprocal processes of radicalization among young Europeans with ‘native’ and ‘Muslim’ backgrounds, radical Islamism and right-wing extremism in particular (ERC AdG research project, Grant No. 785934; https://bpy.bilgi.edu.tr). In Europe, it has become commonplace to categorise migrants of Muslim origin solely based on their „Muslim identity,“ with these boundaries remaining static over time. The recent labeling of migrant-origin communities and their descendants as „Muslims“ by mainstream societies and European states stems from the prevailing civilisational paradigm that has become prominent since the early 1990s. Consequently, individuals from migrant backgrounds with a Muslim heritage are consistently and universally branded as „Muslims.“ Research in the scientific community has also shed light on the backgrounds of native youths often stigmatised as „far-right extremists“ by mainstream figures in politics, media, and society at large. These youths typically hail from families engaged in independent farming or small-scale trade, primarily residing in politically and geographically isolated remote areas. Influenced by global shifts in politics and economics that promote dominant masculine ideals, they react to the decline of traditional patriarchy in both public and private spheres by asserting their right to reinstate patriarchal norms. They perceive that the liberalised and Europeanised political leadership, alongside newly empowered groups such as minorities, women, immigrants, and refugees, have encroached upon their historical patriarchal authority, prompting them to become more vocal in international economic and political affairs. Struggling with downward social mobility, rural and lower-middle-class youths find themselves squeezed between the pressures of global capitalism and an apathetic or even complicit political establishment, intensifying their sense of disenfranchisement. These individuals, deemed as „victims of globalisation,“ harbor ressentiment, animosity and resentment towards global capitalism, European integration, diversity, labour migration, cosmopolitanism, and international movement. This talk aims to underscore the similarities in the socio-economic, political, spatial, and nostalgic forms of deprivation and grievance of both groups rather than the differences that make it easier for everyone to treat them as if they are ontologically different from each other. Following the footprints of Social Movements literature, it lays the groundwork for arguing that these European youths are affected similarly by the challenges posed by contemporary flows of globalization, such as deindustrialization, structural exclusion, and socio-economic, political, spatial, and psychological forms of deprivation and humiliation, but are responding differently due to the differences in their cultural and political repertoires.

Bio:

Ayhan Kaya, Professor of Political Science

Ayhan Kaya is a Professor of Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics of Interculturalism at the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University; Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence; and a member of the Science Academy, Turkey. He is currently European Research Council Advanced Grant holder (ERC AdG, 2019-2024). He received his PhD and MA degrees at the University of Warwick, England. Kaya was previously a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence, Italy, and adjunct lecturer at the New York University, Florence between 2016 and 2017. He previously worked and taught at the European University Viadrina as Aziz Nesin Chair in 2013, and at Malmö University, Sweden as the Willy Brandt Chair in 2011. He is specialized in European identities, Euro-Turks in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the Circassian diaspora in Turkey, the construction and articulation of modern transnational identities, refugee studies in Turkey, conventional and non-conventional forms of political participation in Turkey, and the rise of populist movements in the EU. His recent manuscript is Populism and Heritage in Europe. Lost in Diversity and Unity (London: Routledge, 2019). His recently edited volumes are Nativist and Islamist Radicalism: Anger and Anxiety (London: Routledge, 2023, co-edited with A. Benevento and M. Koca); Memory in European Populism (London: Routledge, 2019, with Chiara de Cesari). Some of his books are Turkish Origin Migrants and their Descendants: Hyphenated Identities in Transnational Space (Palgrave, 2018), Europeanization and Tolerance in Turkey (London: Palgrave, 2013); Islam, Migration and Integration: The Age of Securitization (London: Palgrave, 2012); Contemporary Migrations in Turkey: Integration or Return (Istanbul Bilgi University Press, 2015, in Turkish, co-edited with Murat Erdoğan), Belgian-Turks, Brussels: King Baudouin Foundation, 2008, co-written with Ferhat Kentel), Euro-Turks: A Bridge or a Breach between Turkey and the EU (Brussels: CEPS Publications, 2005, co-written with Ferhat Kentel, Turkish version by Bilgi University); wrote another book titled Sicher in Kreuzberg: Constructing Diasporas, published in two languages, English (Bielefeld: Transkript verlag, 2001) and Turkish (Istanbul: Büke Yayınları, 2000). He also translated Ethnic Groups and Boundaries by Fredrik Barth and Citizenship and Social Classes by T. H. Marshall and Tom Bottomore to Turkish language. He also edited several books on migration, integration, citizenship, and diasporas. Kaya’s publications have been translated to several languages such as French, German, Japanese, Italian, Arabic and Dutch. Kaya was actively involved in two FP7 and three Horizon 2020 projects, and now he is involved in two different Horizon 2020 research projects on migration. Kaya received Turkish Social Science Association Prize in 2003; Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA-GEBİP) Prize in 2005; Sedat Simavi Research Prize in 2005; Euroactiv-Turkey European Prize in 2008, the Prize for the best Text Book given by TÜBA; and also the Prize for excellence in teaching at the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University in 2013 and 2017.

E-mail: ayhan.kaya@bilgi.edu.tr

https://bpy.bilgi.edu.tr

Twitter: @AyhanKaya14

Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4431-3220

Academia.edu: https://bilgi.academia.edu/AyhanKaya

Zenodo: Ayhan Kaya

Researchgate: Ayhan_Kaya3