Changing Course:A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World

Violent extremism in the name of Islam poses a serious security threat to the United States. Yet the much-publicized divide between the U.S. and the Muslim world is not as deep or irreconcilable as many believe. Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World presents the first senior, bipartisan and interfaith U.S. leadership consensus on a comprehensive approach to improving U.S.-Muslim relations. Moving beyond current deadlocked debates, the Leadership Group on U.S.-Muslim Engagement has crafted a multi-faceted strategy to enhance U.S. and international security. Editorial Reviews: Few challenges matter more than reducing distrust and misunderstanding between the United States and people living in Muslim majority states. This timely report is a groundbreaking, stereotype-shattering and thought-provoking contribution to that essential cause. --Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Principal, The Albright Group LLC This is an exceptional and important report that is a must read for all those Americans involved in policy development, operational planning, and understanding of this critical part of our global society. --General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (ret.) This initiative is a serious, comprehensive, bi-partisan effort that seeks to address a critical and dangerous problem: The world Muslim community misunderstands Americans and Americans misunderstand them. This initiative lays out a detailed and comprehensive plan to vastly decrease that misunderstanding through a multi-faceted approach that will build constructive bridges of mutual understanding between Americans and the Muslim world. --Richard Land, President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention; Member, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom About the Authors: Leadership Group on U.S.-Muslim Engagement: Madeleine Albright, The Albright Group Richard Armitage, Armitage International Ziad Asali, American Task Force on Palestine Steve Bartlett, Financial Services Roundtable Paul Brest, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Red Cavaney, American Petroleum Institute Daniel Christman, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Stephen Covey, FranklinCovey Thomas Dine, The Dine Group Marc Gopin, George Mason University Stephen Heintz, Rockefeller Brothers Fund Shamil Idriss, Soliya Daisy Khan, American Society for Muslim Advancement Derek Kirkland, Morgan Stanley Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention Robert Jay Lifton, Harvard Medical School Denis Madden, Arch­diocese of Baltimore John Marks, Search for Common Ground Susan Collin Marks, Search for Common Ground Ingrid Mattson, The Islamic Society of North America Sayyeda Mirza-Jafri, Consultant Dalia Mogahed, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies Vali Nasr, The Fletcher School, Tufts University Feisal Abdul Rauf, Cordoba Initiative Rob Rehg, Edelman Dennis Ross, Washington Institute for Near East Policy S. Abdallah Schleifer, American University in Cairo Jessica Stern, Harvard Kennedy School of Government Mustapha Tlili, New York University William Ury, Program on Negotiation, ­Harvard Law School Vin Weber, Clark and Weinstock Daniel Yankelovich, Public Agenda Ahmed Younis, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies Dov Zakheim, Booz Allen Hamilton Search for Common Ground Founded in 1982, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is a not-for-profit organization that works in seventeen countries to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving. Over the past 26 years, SFCG has identified underlying principles for dealing with conflict constructively: Conflict is both normal and resolvable; Conflict can be transformed; Peace is a process; and Humankind is interdependent. SFCG has developed a broad array of operational methods, which are collectively called the toolbox. These methods include well-known conflict resolution techniques, such as mediation and facilitation, and less traditional ones, like TV productions, radio soap opera and community organizing. Consensus Building Institute The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) is a not-for-profit organization created by leading practitioners and theory builders in the fields of negotiation and dispute resolution. CBI works with leaders, advocates, experts, and communities to promote effective negotiations, build consensus, and resolve conflicts. CBI improves the way that leaders use negotiations to make organizational decisions, achieve agreements, and manage multi-party conflicts and planning efforts. CBI uses proven principles, processes and techniques that improve group decision making on complex public and organizational issues. Many of these strategies have been developed through the Program on Negotiation and MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program at Harvard Law School, where a number of CBI s staff and Board members are affiliated.