POLIS Academic
Dr Sara Silvestri
Associated Teaching Staff
Expertise
Sara Silvestri (M.Phil., Ph.D., Cantab) is an interdisciplinary social scientist fascinated by the role of faith in society and in international relations and its implications for the governance of an increasingly diverse Europe. Her research, teaching, and publications focus on Muslim political mobilisation and transnational networks; the emergence of Islamic institutions and pressure groups in Europe, Political Islam, and EU and national policy responses to Muslim communities, immigration, terrorism, and radicalisation
Affiliations
Dr Silvestri is based between London, where she holds a Senior lectureship in International Politics at City University, and Cambridge, where she undertook her PhD and Post-Doc (at St John’s College) and currently directs a research programme at the Von Hügel Institute (St Edmund’s College), and collaborates with POLIS and with the Muslim College
Policy-related work
Sara serves as an advisor to the EuroMed Anna Lindh Foundation in Alexandria and in the experts group of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. In 2006-07 she coordinated the Islam in Europe programme for the European Policy Centre (Brussels) and was an Associate Fellow with Chatham House. She has been a research consultant to various bodies including the British Council and the British Government.
International research
Dr Silvestri is involved in numerous collaborative and international research networks and grants (including ESRC- ESF- and NORFACE-funded ones) on religion in the EU, counterterrorism and religious minorities in Britain, Muslim women, radicalisation, and migration, and jointly convenes the BISA working group on Religion, Security and International Relations. She has been an invited speaker, inter alia, at: European Parliament, European Commission, The Vatican, Woodrow Wilson Centre for Scholars, Oxford University, Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, New York University, Casa Asia and Casa Arabe (Spain), German Ministry for Migration, London School of Economics, Istituto Affari Internazionali, University of Tampere, Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Books
Europe’s Muslim Women: Beyond the Burqa Controversy,
London: Hurst, fortcoming,
Monograph on Islam in Europe, forthcoming 2011
International Journal Articles
2011. 'Irish, Muslims and British counter-terrorism: continuities and variations in discourses around security threats and "suspectness"', [with M.Hickman, L.Thomas, H.Nickels] under review.
2011. ‘Faith intersections and Muslim women in the European Microcosm: notes towards the study of non-organized Islam’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(4)
2009. “Islam and Religion in the EU Political System”, West European Politics, 32(6).
2008. “Inter-Cultural Dialogue to the Benefit of the Members of the Family and for and Integral Life”, People on the Move (publication of the Pontifical Council for Migrant and Itinerant People, The Vatican), 107.
2007. “Radical Islam: Threats and Opportunities”, Global Dialogue, 9(3-4).
2007. “Introduction” (with J. Bailey), Cambridge Review of International Affairs (Religion and International Relations thematic issue), 20(3)
2005. “EU relations with Islam in the context of the EMP’s cultural dialogue”, Mediterranean Politics, 10(3).
Chapters in Edited Books
forthcoming 2011. ‘Institutionalising British and Italian Islam’, in H. Yilmaz and C. Aykac (eds), Perceptions of Islam in Europe: Culture, Identity and the Muslim 'Other'. London: I.B. Tauris.
2010. “Public Policies towards Muslims and the Institutionalisation of ‘moderate’ Islam in Europe: some critical reflections”, in A. Triandafyllidou (ed) Muslims in 21st century Europe, London: Routledge.
2010. “Moderate Islamist groups in Europe: The Muslim Brothers”, in K. Hroub (ed) Political Islam: Context versus Ideology, London: Saqi.
2010. “Muslim Self-Organisation in Europe: Risks and Odds of State Intervention”, in A. Kreienbrink and M. Bodenstein (eds), Muslim Organisations and the State – European Perspectives. Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migrations und Flüchtlinge (German Ministry for Migration).
2007. “Muslim institutions and political mobilisation”, in A. Boubekeur, S. Amghar and M. Emerson (eds), European Islam: the challenges for society and public policy, Brussels/Budapest: CEPS/OSI.
2007. “Asserting Islam in the EU: actors, strategies, and priorities”, in F. Foret (ed), L’Europe à l’épreuve du religieux, Brussels: Université Libre de Bruxelles.
2007. “Does Islam challenge European Identity?”, in L. Faltin & M. Wright (eds), The Religious Roots of Contemporary European Identity, New York & London: T&T Clark/ Continuum.
2007. “Europe and Political Islam: encounters of the 20th and 21st century”, in T. Abbas (ed), Islamic Political Radicalism: A European Comparative Perspective, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
2005. “The Situation of Muslim Immigrants in Europe in the Twenty-first century: the creation of National Muslim Councils”, in H. Henke (ed), Crossing Over: Comparing Recent Migration in Europe and the United States, Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Reports, Policy Papers, Working Papers
2011. 'Suspect Communities'? Counter-terrorism policy, the press, and the impact on Irish and Muslim communities in Britain, with M.Hickman, L.Thomas, H.Nickels, London, 2011
2010. ‘Europe’s Muslims: Burqa laws, women’s lives’, Open Democracy, 15 July,
2010. “The role of education in the integration of immigrants in Spain”, research policy paper for BEPA, European Commission, Brussels, March (internal document).
2009. “A comparative study of the representations of ‘suspect’ communities in Multi-ethnic Britain and of their impact on Irish communities and Muslim communities - mapping newspaper content”, ISET working paper 13, August (with H.Nickels, L.Thomas, M.Hickman).
2008. Europe’s Muslim Women: Potential, Aspirations and Challenges, research report for and published by King Baudouin Foundation, Brussels.
2007. “Islam & the EU: The Risks & Merits of Inter-Cultural Dialogue”, Policy Brief, European Policy Centre, Brussels, June.
2007. Report on London and Birmingham focus groups (with M. Cherti) for Ethnobarometer comparative research project, Rome, June (unpublished).
2006. Intercultural Dialogue: Proof of Concept Testing, London: British Council (with C.Alcock & S.Khan), internal document.
2005. “The Institutionalization of Islam in Europe: a Case Study of Italy”, Council for European Studies Newsletter, September.
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- E-mail: ss384@cam.ac.uk
- Address: POLIS
Research Interests:
The articulation of Muslim politics and the increasing emergence of religious transnational networks in Europe and throughout the world