Crises of the Caliphate: international crises and frame degradation within European Islamic activism

Abstract

This contribution explores how international crises are experienced by Islamic activist movements in Europe, particularly in relation to framing around the re-establishment of an Islamic Caliphate, to understand the link between international instability and trends in European ‘Islamism’. It takes the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a transnational Islamic movement, and uses 44 interviews conducted with leaders, members, and activists of the group in Britain and Denmark to trace changes in organisational framing between 2011 and 2024. The contribution finds that, contrary to assumptions in European policy that link ‘Islamism’ with acts of terrorism, instances of violence have often disrupted Islamic activism within Europe, changing the way in which activists mobilise. Through a process of crisis, frame degradation and securitisation, groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir have responded to such disruption by complexifying and softening their relationship with the liberal state, with strategic adaptation in favour of community coalitions, engagement with democracy, and tentative adoption of nationalistic language. Such findings underscore the importance of accounting for the international level in understanding how social movements engage with contention, and suggest that many existing assumptions of cumulative interactions between ‘Islamism’ and international political violence are misplaced.