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This journalistic essay investigates the reasons for the increasing hostility towards Islam in the West. The basis for this hostility, as I argue, lies in the re-awakening of a right-wing nationalism that considers its own people threatened by Muslims. Nationalists are joined by conservatives and republicans who consider Islam as a threat to Christianity or the Enlightenment. This newly awakened nationalism itself can be traced back to four causes: Firstly, the fainting memory of the destruction brought about by nationalism in the first half of the 20th century. Secondly, the ceasing conflict between the interests of workers and capital gave way to questions of national identity. Thirdly, economic transformations since the oil crisis in 1973 have been causing fear of decline among the lower middle class. The fourth reason consists of real threats by Islamism, in the form of terrorist attacks. Nationalists, especially, define Islamism in an essentialist way, namely, as the manifestation of a transcendent idea of Islam. From a social science viewpoint, however, Islamism is rather to be understood as nationalism’s twin. Its kernel can be attributed to the same four causes, not least in its being a reaction to the West. By mutually strengthening each other, nationalism and Islamism in fact become allies.
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