Transnational Public Policy on the Management of Islam; And Muslims in the EU and Australia: the case of Turkish immigrants

Author

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence of transnational public policy focused on the management of Islam and Muslim communities in the West. It looks at the contrasting position of Turkish immigrant communities in Australia and Europe and the way they have been positioned differently in national discourse on ‘integration’, cultural compatibility and political risk. While in Europe Turkish migrants have become connected to broader social, economic and cultural policy on Turkey’s membership of the European Union in Australia their relationship to the dominant society is defined more by historical ANZAC myths of secular nationalism than by their Islamic religious identity and difference. On the one hand this is a product of Australian nationalist dialogue around ANZAC and Gallipoli but on the other it is a consequence of the bureaucratic organization of Islam by the secular Turkish state and its management of overseas religious organizations. The paper also reflects on the way the homogenizing of transnational public policy on managing Islam and Muslims coming out of the EU often misrecognises the nature of Islam and Muslim communities in other countries.

Keywords