Christopher Caldwell: What is Europe’s problem with Islam?




Zócalo Public Square  (Audio) show

Summary: Europe has received a wave of immigration from the global south in recent decades, similar in scope to the US—but very different in its results. Many immigrant and second-generation communities, particularly those hailing from the Muslim world, have astronomical unemployment rates and a thin connection to European identity. Some have produced riots and terrorism. If Europe has an Islam problem, whose fault is it? Is Islamic belief and culture incompatible with Western institutions? Or is there such a thing as “Islamophobia,” poisoning immigrants’ efforts to integrate on European terms? Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Weekly Standard, visits Zócalo to talk about themes from his upcoming book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.