Wasat Generation Dialogues

part of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Muslim World Initiative

Easing Sectarian and Ideological Conflicts in the Middle East

With an eye toward preventing low-level ideological conflicts in the Muslim world from escalating into violence, the Muslim World Initiative convened dialogues in Cairo, featuring participants from a new generation of political leaders. The dialogues presented these "middle ground" or "wasat generation" leaders—who have been caught between autocratic regimes and the entrenched older generation of opposition activists—with a venue to evaluate their progress, build political alliances, and assess prospects for promoting common ground.

The Wasat Generation Dialogues built on the work begun at USAID-funded conferences on Political Oppositions in the Arab World, which USIP conducted in Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco. The dialogues were intended to encourage alliance-building among moderate political parties and civil society groups, with the goal of preventing simmering ideological and religious tensions from escalating into violence.

Each of the dialogues, conducted in Egypt, focused on the institutional and ideological challenges to political participation particular to the host countries. The dialogues brought together key players from past conferences, as well as new groups of participants. On the U.S. side, USIP's specialists were joined by experts on regional political issues from the U.S. Department of State, USAID, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and other relevant agencies and institutions. Arab participants came from legal political parties and NGOs that advocate dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

A subcommittee drawn from each dialogue presented concrete recommendations for promoting political cooperation and alliance-making between Islamists and secularists.

The objectives of the dialogue were:

To assess the effects of the Islamist-Secularist divide on the capacity of Egyptian activists to build alliances and to act collectively to advance political and democratic reforms.
To examine previous attempts at alliance building and cooperation between different factions in the Egyptian opposition and identify the lessons learned from experiences such as the Egyptian Popular Committee for the Support of the Palestinian Intifada and Kifaya in fostering cross-ideological cooperation between various forces on the Egyptian political arena.
To formulate recommendations to inform U.S. policy debates on how to best support indigenous efforts for political reform in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

USIP proudly co-sponsored the dialogues with the Al Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Cairo, as well as Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Daniel Brumberg served as the dialogues' director.