The political influence of an interest group: A comparative study on the Muslim minority in the United States and Britain

Abstract

The article proposes to examine the existing political influence of the Muslim minority in the United States and Britain. The academic literature rarely refers to the component of political power as a tool that can explain the application of policy. Therefore, the analysis in the article will focus on several criteria comparatively between the two countries. The criteria include the influence of colonialism, the demography of the Muslim minority, the identity of the citizen as “Muslim”, integration policies, and the influence of the Muslim lobby. The article will show how these criteria prominently explain the political power of Muslim minorities in the intra-communal public sphere in Britain, in contrast to their relative weakness in the political sphere in the US. This is in accordance with the relative political power in each country. This article offers a new understanding of the political power of civic groups.