U.S.-Muslim Engagement: Reversing the Downward Spiral

The U.S.-Muslim Engagement project seeks to reverse the downward spiral in U.S. relations with the global Muslim community. The project’s central goals are to:

• create a coherent, broad-based and bipartisan set of strategies to improve relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world; and
• communicate and advocate those strategies in ways that shift U.S. public opinion and contribute to changes in U.S. policies, and public and private actions.

The project will issue a consensus report and begin an intensive education campaign by mid-2008 to influence the views and actions of national officeholders, candidates for office, the new Administration elected in November 2008, private institutions and the public at large.

The project takes a unique approach. Never before has the best thinking of the nation’s political, diplomatic, religious, academic and business leaders been so directly fused with input from citizens to tackle an issue that so profoundly affects U.S. and world peace and security.

Who Is Involved?

The Leadership Group.
An active Leadership Group drives the project. It includes a former Secretary of State (Madeleine Albright), former Republican members of Congress (Vin Weber and Steve Bartlett), a former U.S. envoy on the Middle East peace process (Dennis Ross), and an equally eminent, remarkably diverse set of leaders and experts from business, faith communities, foreign policy, and related fields. Click here for a full list of the project's leadership group [pdf].

Eleven of the Group’s thirty-one members are Muslim-Americans. The participating leaders have been drawn together by their collective recognition of the issue’s urgency and the need to create wise, broadly supportable solutions. In three plenary meetings and numerous exchanges since January 2007, the leaders have already reached an extraordinary convergence of views and have committed to see the project through to completion.

Staff.
This project has been convened by two non-profit organizations with expertise in building consensus on complex public issues: Search for Common Ground-USA and the Consensus Building Institute. Also partnering on this project are the Viewpoint Learning organization (chaired by Dan Yankelovich), which is facilitating a series of U.S. citizen deliberations on U.S.-Muslim relations, and the Gallup Organization, whose Muslim World polling initiative provides the most comprehensive and timely assessment of Muslim public opinion available.

Unique Capacity for Impact
Changing public discourse and foreign policy on an issue of this magnitude presents exceptional challenges. This project has unique assets to meet those challenges:

• The Leadership Group’s exceptional credibility, visibility and access to the Presidential nominees, key Senate and House leaders, the current Administration, the media, and opinion leaders in business, foreign policy, national security, and faith communities;
• The emerging consensus among its diverse participants on the core questions of where the U.S. stands in its relations with Muslim countries and communities; how and why relations have deteriorated; and what can be done to improve them;
• The diversity of the Leadership Group, in disciplines, backgrounds, faiths, and political perspectives, which will attract attention and add credibility to the consensus that its members reach;
• The Leadership Group’s direct engagement with American citizens—to inform them on the issues, learn what they think and ascertain what they are willing to support—through a deliberative process developed by Viewpoint Learning; and
• A communications strategy designed with the advice of world-class experts. The project team has already begun engaging key constituencies to generate interest in the project and dialogue on the issues.

Funders and Financial Needs
Generous support has been provided by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Hewlett Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, American Petroleum Institute, Rapoport Foundation, and several individuals.