ABSTRACT
This chapter analysis the headscarf debate portraying the private Muslim identity of Muslim communities in opposition to the secular European public, the debate over the Muhammed cartoons as portraying Muslim identity in opposition to the European political sphere of democracy, and the discourse on the war on terror as portraying a war on Islam in which the national identities of European countries are framed in opposition to Muslim identity. The public discourse in Europe radicalizes Muslim communities by establishing an antagonistic frontier between Muslims and non-Muslims. Radicalization especially as approached in the book comes along with insecurity and lack of orientation among interview subjects. The chapter focuses on the interaction between radicalization and public discourse, this interaction is depicted from the point of view of European Muslims. Discourse analysis, as well as perceptions by Muslims throughout Europe of the public discourse, form the qualitative methodological base of the theory is developed.
