The Difficulties of Italian Muslim Political Mobilization: Anti-Muslim Sentiment and Internal Fragmentation

Abstract This paper focuses on the political participation and mobilization of Muslims in Italy, an understudied topic. A few existing studies outline that Italian Muslim involvement in the political process has been quite low on both the local and national levels. However, along with the notable recent growth of the Muslim population in Italy, a certain evolution of political mobilization has occurred as well. This paper will analyze how Italian Muslim political participation, both through non-electoral and electoral channels, has evolved through time. It will question what are the key issues and challenges for participation; and to what extent homeland politics and foreign policy events have affected political mobilization. It will argue that even though some limited evolution of political mobilization has occurred in recent years, the Italian Muslim political participation and impact both remain rather limited due to the strong anti-Muslim sentiment in Italy, as well as due to internal fragmentation of Muslim communities.