Securitization of Islam and religious discrimination: Religious minorities in Western democracies, 1990–2008

Abstract:

This study draws substantially on ‘securitization’ theory to examine whether religious discrimination against Muslims as compared with other religious minorities is disproportionately higher in Western democracies. We explore variation in the treatment of religious minorities in the West using a special version of the Religion and State-Minorities Round 2 (RAS2-M) data set. We analyse the extent and causes of 29 different kinds of religious discrimination against 86 religious minorities in 27 Western democracies (coded yearly from 1990 to 2008). The results support the securitization argument showing that Muslims suffer from higher levels of discrimination in comparison with other religious minorities, especially since 2001.