ABSTRACT
From a legal standpoint, the 1959 Constitution operated to transform and modernize existing codes, even within conservative areas of the law that typically resist conforming to international standards of human rights. The political regime attempted this process of modernization without openly disavowing the traditionally conservative Muslim majority. This chapter then gives a detailed portrait of how two European states with large Muslim populations have regulated the religion and addressed their internal disagreements. It illustrates the difficulties of political representation of Islam arising from the problematic nature of its relationship between religion and state. The internal structure of Islam qua religion is a major obstacle to the unification of several independent organizations in Italy. The teachings of the state–religion experiments in Belgium, Bulgaria and Austria can and will inform future efforts by Italy to create a political hierarchy for Islam and a policy of religious freedom that is consistent with human rights protection.
