Integration of Muslim Migrants: The Shift in Theoretical and Political Strategies

Tatyana S. Pronina; Varvara A. Slivkina

doi:10.15826/csp.2026.10.3.395

Tatyana S. Pronina Pushkin Leningrad State University, Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8902-9154
Varvara A. Slivkina Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy; Pushkin Leningrad State University, Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2925-5002

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/csp.2026.10.3.395

Abstract

The religious diversity of modern European societies, formed under the influence of migration flows, makes it necessary to revise research tools. The article analyzes the revision of research strategies in the study of religion and the impact of these changes on the strategies of integration of (im)migrants. The main vector of these changes is the transition from the study of institutions to the study of multiple religious histories and interpretations of religion. The concepts of everyday religion, multiple modernities, and globalization theory successfully interact in the same research field giving us an opportunity to reveal the contradictory role of religion in the integration of (im)migrants, to describe the potential of the Islamic tradition for development and inclusion in European forms of communitarianism. Moving away from the dichotomous principle gives an understanding that the use of different approaches and concepts (Euro-Islam, “secular” Islam, everyday religion, living religion) expands the explanatory potential of the theory. The authors identify the dilemma of secularism: in a situation of expanding religious diversity, the state’s definition of the “configurations” of the religious field becomes an obstacle to ensuring equal rights and freedoms for all religions and their followers. The substitution of the general principle of equality with privileges for minorities, characteristic of multiculturalism strategies, results in new restrictions for minorities themselves or discrimination against the majority. We assume that strategies for integrating (im)migrants in European countries are being revised through the return of political interest in the strategy of assimilation, as reflected in judicial practices regarding violations of religious freedom. The article uses materials from theoretical and empirical studies on the topic of “migration and religion” conducted in Russia and a number of European countries.

Author Biographies

Tatyana S. Pronina, Pushkin Leningrad State University, Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Tatyana S. Pronina, Dr. Sci. (Philosophy), Head of the Center for Religious and Ethnopolitical Studies, Pushkin Leningrad State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia. She is the author of over 100 publications with the focus on religious identity, religions in modern Russia, migration and religion, religious education and religion in educational sphere.

Varvara A. Slivkina, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy; Pushkin Leningrad State University, Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Varvara A. Slivkina, PhD (International Relations and Political Sciences), investigates issues related to multi-ethnic and multi-religious interaction, focusing particularly on religious minorities. Her research interests encompass both qualitative and quantitative methods of sociological studies of religious phenomena in contemporary societies, models of examining religiosity, and the relationship between religion and migration.

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