Gordon Alexander Vladimirovich – Sc.D. in Historical Sciences, Chief Researcher, Department of Asian and African Studies, INION RAS
The problem of integration of the Muslim community has become one of the most pressing issues on the French political agenda in recent decades. The growth of the community, adherence to traditional religion, the influence of international radical fundamentalist organizations, and, finally, large-scale terrorist attacks have created a sense of anxiety in French society, bordering sometimes with collective hysteria. This was facilitated by the mood of decadence (déclinisme) in French society itself, traumatized by the consequences of globalization (deindustrialization, stagnation of various sectors of the economy, formation of a vast stagnant periphery), contributed to this. It was public sentiment that turned out to be the decisive factor in the negative dynamics of the attitude of the state authorities towards the Muslim community, which found expression in the tightening of integration policies. The article traces how this process is going and how it was justified in their program documents by two prominent statesmen of 21st century France: Nicolas Sarkozy and Emmanuel Macron. Sarkozy was presiding over the decisive turn in the integration policy of the Fifth Republic, from recognizing the multiculturalism of modern France to the unificationist model traditional since the French Revolution. Sarkozy's policy of assimilating the Muslim community was manifested in the banning of religious symbols in public space. The association of assimilation with French identity, dogmatized at the level of state ideology, had severe consequences for the community. It turned into a policy of forced secularization. Macron attempted to free his predecessor's course from discriminatory aspects against the Muslim community as a whole, by focusing on combating separatist tendencies. However, the attitude he put forward to reform Islam did not gain support among believing Muslims. Still, Macron, with his centrist intentions, enjoys some support in the Muslim community. As the voting in the second round of the 2022 presidential election showed, in the immigrant neighborhoods of the suburbs, the incumbent president is seen as a barrier to right-wing national radicalism, which promises France a civil war on the basis of the clash between French-Christian civilization and Arab-Muslim civilization.
France, immigration, integration, muslim community, N. Sarkozy, E. Macron.
Download text