Muslim World Initiative
The Institute recruits distinguished scholars to help unravel the complexities of the Muslim world
December 2004/January 2005
From Morocco to Mindanao (an island in the Southern Philippines), the United States faces a host of policy challenges throughout the Muslim world—a lesson brought home with shocking clarity to every American on September 11, 2001. Yet too often, says Abdeslam Maghraoui, the new associate director of Research and Peace Studies for the Muslim World at the United States Institute of Peace, policymakers lack the depth of knowledge that can inform effective policies from long-time students of the region. The Institute’s Muslim World Initiative recently hired a team of experts to help bridge this gap and develop policy options that translate the insights of scholars and seasoned practitioners into practical advice for policymakers.
Abdeslam Maghraoui, formerly a lecturer and resident scholar at Princeton University, heads up the new initiative. He previously held appointments at Princeton University and served as director of Al-Madina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the capacity of other nonprofits in North Africa.
Maghraoui is joined by Christine Fair, who served as associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, and Scott Lasensky, a former international relations professor at Mount Holyoke College. Fair specializes in security competition between India and Pakistan as well as U.S. strategic relations with those two nations. She is also an expert in the causes of terrorism. Lasensky focuses on issues relating to the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy toward the region. He was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution and is a frequent commentator on major media outlets.
Middle East specialist Mona Yacoubian will serve as a consultant to the Initiative. Yacoubian has worked on democratization, women's empowerment, and civil society promotion for the World Bank and the Department of State. From 1990 to 1997, she served as the North Africa analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, where she focused on the crisis in Algeria.
“We are extremely pleased to have such accomplished and talented scholars join our staff. They promise to enrich the work of the Institute by examining the Muslim World at a time when our understanding of and engagement with Muslim communities around the world is critical to our national interest,” said Institute President Richard H. Solomon.
The Muslim World Initiative was launched by the Institute in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks to address the vital foreign policy and national security challenges associated with the Muslim World. It focuses on the threat of terrorism, religious extremism, and violent conflict in this diverse region of the world. The Initiative is constructed around three crosscutting themes:
- “Bridging the Divide,” which explores and encourages efforts to diminish the sources of mistrust and misunderstanding that harm relations between the United States and parts of the Muslim World as well as within communities in the region;
- “Mobilizing the Moderates,” which supports activities designed to help give voice to and empower those who advocate cooperation and nonviolent solutions to conflict; and
- “Marginalizing the Militants,” which promotes efforts to isolate and reduce the influence of the extremists who advocate intolerance and violence.
Maghraoui hopes to see the Initiative issue an on-going series of op-eds, articles, and books, as well as to convene regular on- and off-the-record meetings with key policymakers and scholars. But he says there are already some essential lessons policymakers should learn. “First, we have to develop some greater coherence in our policies toward the countries of the region. We have to support democratic values throughout the Muslim World, even in countries whose governments we rely on in the fight against terrorism.” Much of the unrest and discontent in the Middle East is ultimately attributable to repressive governments. “It’s simply not true that Muslims aren’t interested in democracy and human rights,” he says. “In fact, at least some of the extremism we see is the result of political and cultural aspirations being thwarted by authoritarian governments and taking the only path left to it—protest in the form of religious radicalism.”
Second, he says, “we have to give diplomacy more of a chance—and I don’t just mean diplomats holding summits, but student exchanges, economic aid, and so on.” Finally, while public opinion toward the United States is currently at a nadir in the Muslim World, it need not remain so low. “We can use it to effect more change in policy,” he says. “But this is not selling soap, this is not a public relations campaign. We must deal with the real issues and real concerns of Muslim people.”
Maghraoui noted that even by Middle East standards this is an unusually challenging time. The death of Yasser Arafat, the imminent possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons, the prospect of instability and chaos throughout the region, the growth of extremism—all underline how important it is to understand the forces operating in the region. For Maghraoui, simple, mono-causal explanations are especially problematic: “The issues are deep, complex, and interact at different levels, from international policy decisions to local civil society programs.”
More information about the program is available at www.usip.org/muslimworld. Interested readers can also sign up to receive the Muslim World’s monthly bulletin, Muslim World Insights.
