Governing Islam in Austria and Germany

Governing Islam in Austria and Germany argues that the foundations of contemporary policies towards Islam in Austria and Germany are deeply rooted in colonial practices from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author Farid Hafez traces how colonial knowledge and governing techniques vis-à-vis Muslims--acquired during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the German Kaiserreich's rule over Tanzania and parts of Togo and Cameroon--shaped both the Nazi regime's approach to Muslims and postwar European policies. Hafez introduces the theory of Islampolitik, a concept that examines how modern European states regulate and govern their Muslim populations. Islampolitik is not simply administrative or cultural policy; it is a mode of governance aimed at managing a constructed, racialized version of Muslim identity and Islam. Colonial legacies still inform the racial politics of religion in Europe, positioning Muslim populations as subjects of control. Governing Islam in Austria and Germany: From Colonial Times to the Present offers a new methodological lens to analyze Austria and Germany's contemporary policies toward Muslims, uncovering the ways in which past imperial logics underpin state administration and religious education. Bridging colonial history, racial politics, and contemporary politics, Hafez shows how Muslim communities were not only managed but strategically incorporated into imperial and national frameworks.

Farid Hafez is Assistant Teaching Professor of International Relations at William and Mary. Since 2017, he has been a non-resident Senior Researcher at Georgetown University's The Bridge Initiative. From 2021-24, he was the Class of 1955 Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Studies at Williams College. He is a recipient of the Bruno Kreisky Prize for political book of the year, for his anthology Islamophobia in Austria (co-ed. with John Bunzl, 2009). Farid Hafez has been the founding co-editor of the European Islamophobia Report since 2015.