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.

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.