Heated debates about Muslim women's veiling practices have regularly attracted the attention of European policymakers over the last decade. The headscarf has been both vehemently contested by national and/or regional governments, political parties and public intellectuals and passionately defended by veil wearing women and their supporters. Systematically applying a comparative perspective, this book addresses the question of why the headscarf tantalises and causes such controversy over issues about religious pluralism, secularism, neutrality of the state, gender oppression, citizenship, migration, and multiculturalism. Seeking also to establish why the issue has become part of the disciplinary practices of some European countries but not of others, this work brings together an important collection of interpretative research regarding the current debates on the veil in Europe, offering an interdisciplinary scope and European-wide setting. Brought together through a common research methodology, the contributors focus on the different religious, political and cultural meanings of the veiling issue across eight countries and develop a comparative explanation of veiling regimes. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of religion & politics, gender studies and multiculturalism.

Heated debates about Muslim women's veiling practices have attracted the attention of European policymakers over the last decade. The headscarf has been both vehemently contested by national and/or regional governments, political parties and public intellectuals and passionately defended by veil wearing women and their supporters. Systematically applying a comparative perspective, this book addresses the basic question: why does the headscarf tantalise and cause such controversy over issues about religious pluralism, secularism, neutrality of the state, gender oppression, citizenship, migration, and multiculturalism. And as a consequence, why has it become part of the disciplinary practices of some European countries but not of others? While the need for a collection of interpretative research essays regarding the current debates on the veil in Europe has become evident for quite some time, the possibility of bringing together high quality analysis depended on the existence of a body of critical research focusing on the broad issues associated with the Muslim veil debates. This opportunity was given to the FP6-project "Values, Equality and Differences in Liberal Democracies: Debates about Muslim Headscarves in Europe (VEIL)." In this unique collection the theoretical and empirical research results of the project are presented and evaluated, offering an interdisciplinary scope and European-wide setting. The book can be seen as comprising of two main parts: Part I will put the focus on the identification of (conflicting) fundamental rights, moral values and political principles addressed in the headscarf debates by the main actors on national and European level Part II contains research results, which aim at contributing to explain the differences and similarities in regulating and legislation with regard to Muslim headscarves in the countries investigated. Utilizing a comparative perspective this work focuses on the different religio

This open access book deals with contestations "from below" of legal policies and implementation practices in asylum and deportation. Consequently, it covers three types of mobilization: solidarity protests against the deportation of refused asylum seekers, refugee activism campaigning for residence rights and inclusion, and restrictive protests against the reception of asylum seekers. By applying both a longitudinal analysis of protest events and a series of in-depth case studies in three immigration countries, this edited volume provides comparative insights into these three types of movement in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland over a time span of twenty-five years. Embedded in concepts of political change, limited state sovereignty, and migration control, the findings shed light on actors, repertoires, and the effects of protest activities. The contributions illustrate how local contexts, national political settings, issue specifics, and social ties lead to distinctly different forms of protest emergence, dynamics, and strategies. Additionally, they give a profound understanding of the mechanisms and constellations that contribute to protest success, both in terms of preventing deportations of individuals as well as changing policies. In sum, this book constitutes a major contribution to empirically informed theoretical reflections on collective contestation in the fields of refugee studies and social protest movements.

This open access book deals with contestations "from below" of legal policies and implementation practices in asylum and deportation. Consequently, it covers three types of mobilization: solidarity protests against the deportation of refused asylum seekers, refugee activism campaigning for residence rights and inclusion, and restrictive protests against the reception of asylum seekers. By applying both a longitudinal analysis of protest events and a series of in-depth case studies in three immigration countries, this edited volume provides comparative insights into these three types of movement in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland over a time span of twenty-five years. Embedded in concepts of political change, limited state sovereignty, and migration control, the findings shed light on actors, repertoires, and the effects of protest activities. The contributions illustrate how local contexts, national political settings, issue specifics, and social ties lead to distinctly different forms of protest emergence, dynamics, and strategies. Additionally, they give a profound understanding of the mechanisms and constellations that contribute to protest success, both in terms of preventing deportations of individuals as well as changing policies. In sum, this book constitutes a major contribution to empirically informed theoretical reflections on collective contestation in the fields of refugee studies and social protest movements.

One of the major trends in the psychology of religion is the growing interest in religious and spiritual meaning making in relation to religious and spiritual transformation processes, notably as the aftermath of traumatic experiences and in situations of crisis, stress or disease when personal well-being is at stake and coping activities and skills are enhanced. This volume covers this broad and complex area of interrelated issues. The contributions focus on religious and spiritual meaning making and transformation. They do not compose an integrated perspective on religious meaning making and transformation processes. Rather, this volume assembles and presents the current state of research on this complex of issues. Thus it not only provides an excellent overview of the psychological study of constructs of meaning and religious transformation, but also contributes to our knowledge of contemporary religious life in the context of socio-cultural transformation processes (pluralisation, globalization).