Respectability politics-that is, the process by which privileged members of marginalized groups comply with dominant social norms to advance their group's condition-is the object of a growing body of literature in the fields of race and ethnic studies, social movements, and critical theory. Yet this body of literature remains theoretically unintegrated.This article offers a clarification of the concept by specifying who can resort to this type of politics and by characterizing respectability politics as an inherently ambivalent political strategy, one that stands at the crossroads of forms of resistance and accommodation of oppressive structures.The article also demonstrates the concept's potential to move beyond its current application in African American studies, as respectability politics holds promise in providing insights on the oppositional politics of other marginalized groups' members (such as Muslims in Europe or Latino/as in the United States). Lastly, the article sketches four research directions in the study of respectability politics, with important implications for understanding the workings of social conformance under domination.

Cet article étudie la façon dont les acteurs associatifs musulmans s’emploient à être reconnus comme des interlocuteurs respectables par les autorités publiques locales. À partir d’une enquête ethnographique auprès de la Fédération musulmane de la Gironde, il s’agit de reconstituer les conditions de production d’une intermédiation communautaire, dans le cadre de fortes injonctions publiques à un islam civil. Un tel travail de conformation à une religion jugée acceptable nécessite de mobiliser diverses ressources socioculturelles, inégalement distribuées parmi les populations musulmanes.

Islamist movements are often considered the epitomes of transnational movements; however, little is known about the concrete workings of their transnational ambitions. In investigating the evolution of Muslim activists in France from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, this article shows that their embrace of pan‐Islamic ideals initially conflicted with strong investment in (Arab) homeland politics. Later on, their engagement with a French Islam signalled less the emergence of a de‐territorialised, de‐culturalised Islamic identity than it did the assertion of new nationally bounded (French) attachments. Overall, the analysis sheds light on a stimulating puzzle regarding cosmopolitanism: the persistence of national forms of identification in movements that aspire to bypass national affiliations.

Résumé Comment se mobilise-t-on à distance ? L'étude des oppositions politiques hors des frontières exige d'expliciter les règles régissant cet espace singulier de mobilisation et d'analyser la façon dont les modes d'organisation et les registres de justification se reconfigurent en situation migratoire. En comparant les mobilisations islamistes tunisiennes et égyptiennes en France, cet article interroge les effets de l'identité politico-religieuse des acteurs sur leurs pratiques d'opposition à distance. Les militants anti-Ben Ali dans les années 1990-2000 et anti-Sissi depuis 2013 sont partagés entre l'ambition de rendre audible leur cause à un public français et le besoin de préserver l'identité religieuse du groupe.

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