ABSTRACT
Today’s Muslim communities in Australia, Germany and the UK are by and large a result of immigration processes in the second half of the twentieth century. The fairly recent presence and ongoing settlement of new arrivals makes Muslims in some ways a typical immigrant community. This explains many aspects of their demographic and socio-economic situation. Drawing an overview picture of Muslim communities, the following chapter pays particular attention to Muslims’ legal and political status and those socio-economic factors that have been identified in previous research as influential for active engagement, such as education and economic resources (Verba et al. 1995). This cross-national snapshot comparison highlights many similarities between Muslims in the three countries under analysis, but it also reveals striking differences that appear vital for Muslims’ active citizenship.
