Objective: Research the apparent conflict between the Islamic world and the West, promote dialogue between researchers and policy practitioners on the nature of this apparent conflict, and discuss strategies and means of action toward addressing it, with the active participation and support of high-level participants from countries directly affected by it.

Commitment: The first phase of our involvement consists in supporting a group of experts from and on the Middle East, where clearly a number of conflicts of the above-mentioned nature are played out. We will seek for this group to provide the analytical support for this project. While based in Waterloo, Canada, this group has extensive Middle Eastern experience and knowledge and could be deployed in support of conferences in that region or elsewhere. CIGI’s support for similar groups with expertise in regions other than the Middle-East to provide input into this project will be envisaged at a later date.

The next phase will consist of holding a high-level conference at which experts and decision-makers alike can have an open dialogue focusing on conflicts but also on bridging issues between the Muslim World and the West, that will emerge both with a proposed overall vision and with proposals on concrete issues (terrorism, youth, economic opportunities) that can be fleshed out at subsequent meetings and then carried out by governments. The amount pledged covers two such high-level meetings, one proposed for Canada and the other for the Middle East, as well as for support of the experts group.

Background: This project builds on SFG’s “Sustainable Global Security” initiative, which is already underway but whose next phase requires a gathering of highly credible leaders to discuss, ideally with the approval of their own governments, what political reform at the national and international level might help create a more secure foundation for the future. SFG’s project also calls for the formation of an experts group on the nature of terrorism, and for an examination of transformation strategies, focusing on young people, to make a real difference on the ground.

In partnering with SFG, CIGI’s perspective has been that of bringing to the project our network of experts, analytical capabilities and the Centre’s culture of fostering solutions-oriented dialogue on major issues of international governance. CIGI’s perspective is also that the project should bring into light both the role of religious tensions between Islam and the West as potential source of conflict and attendant security concerns, and also in concrete terms bonds that can emerge across religious differences to create a more secure and prosperous world. In that sense, the perspective we bring is broader than a strict focus on security or terrorism would suggest.

Update:
March 2006:
Creation of a Middle-East study group comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of experts from and on the Middle East. Group created in February 2006 under the direction of Professor Bessma Momani, University of Waterloo, Canada.