The complex relationship between Islam and the West has come to occupy centre stage in the analysis of contemporary international relations, especially since the events of September 11. However, much that has been written on the subject tends to oscillate between sweeping accounts of geopolitical and cultural or religious themes on the one hand and detailed empirical examination of this or that conflict on the other. Too little attention has been paid to the juxtaposition of Europe and the United States in relation to Islam, and what this has to tell us about the current political and cultural trajectory of the West. This is precisely the focus of this Special Issue of International Politics.