Events Detail

This Conference is Presented by

The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies Conference Series
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
With support from The Hudson Institute

April 27, 2007 • 4:30 p.m.
ASEAN Auditorium, The Fletcher School
160 Packard Avenue • Medford, MA

You may download the PDF version of this event here (PDF 230KB)

The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, and The Hudson Institute are pleased to present an upcoming conference, Islam in Democratic Societies, at The Fletcher School on April 27, 2007. The overarching theme of the conference explores the need for governments—particularly those in the West—to support moderate Muslim organizations and thinkers.

Six prominent contemporary Muslim intellectuals from both Europe and the United States will, in two panel discussions, analyze the current tensions within the Muslim world, focusing on Muslim communities in democratic, non-Muslim majority countries. The first panel will outline the ongoing struggle between moderates and radicals for the leadership and representation of Muslim communities in the West. The second panel will address the issue of what democratic governments can do to support organizations that foster moderate interpretations of Islam by presenting three cases of recently- established progressive Muslim organizations.

In line with the Jebsen Center’s goals, this conference focuses on prediction and prevention: the global campaign against terrorism must involve the moderate sectors of Muslim communities. One powerful way to isolate and deter radical elements is to empower the moderate voices in the Muslim community and make their message a viable alternative to fundamentalist ideology. This event will offer an innovative approach to the war on terror and concrete policy options to fight extremism within our societies.

The conference audience will include policy makers, scholars from around the world, and graduate students interested in exploring the challenge of Islam in democratic societies. We hope you can join us for this important event.

Conference Format

Panel 1: Moderates vs. Radicals. The panel will analyze the current tensions within the Muslim world and difficulties moderate Muslims face in challenging radical views and making their voices heard. The speakers:

• Hussain Haqqani (Director, Center for International Relations, Boston University)
• Mohamed Sifaoui (Journalist and Author, Inside Al-Qaeda: How I Infiltrated the World's Deadliest Terrorist Organization)
• Zeyno Baran (Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Eurasian Policy, The Hudson Institute)

Panel 2: Supporting the Moderates. The second panel will discuss how moderate Muslims can counter fundamentalism and how governments can help them in their effort. The speakers:

•Zuhdi Jasser (Chairman of the Board, American Islamic Forum for Democracy)
• Mateen Siddiqui (Vice President, Islamic Supreme Council of America)
• Naser Khader (Member of Parliament, Denmark; Founder, Democratic Muslims movement)

Panel Moderators:
Herbert I. London, President, The Hudson Institute
Russell D. Howard, Director, The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies

Zeyno Baran
Zeyno Baran is currently a senior fellow and the director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at The Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. Previously, she served as director of the International Security and Energy Programs at The Nixon Center (2003-2006) and as director of the Caucasus Project at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (1999-2002). Ms. Baran has authored monographs, articles, and policy studies, and her work has been featured in various publications, including Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and The International Herald Tribune.

Hussain Haqqani
Hussain Haqqani is the director of the Center for International Relations at Boston University. Professor Haqqani is a journalist, a scholar, and a diplomat. He served as an advisor to Pakistani Prime Ministers Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Nawaz Sharif, and Benazir Bhutto, and he was Pakistan's ambassador to Sri Lanka (1992-1993). In 2002 he came to the U.S. as visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. His recent publications include: America's New Alliance with Pakistan: Avoiding the Traps of the Past (Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief, October 2002); “The Gospel of Jihad” (Foreign Policy, September/October 2002); “Islam's Weakened Moderates” (Foreign Policy, July/August 2003); and “Political Islam Beyond the Middle East: Pakistan and Afghanistan” (in Political Islam: Challenges for U.S. Policy). In 2005 he published the book, Pakistan Between Mosque and Military (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).

Zuhdi Jasser
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is the chairman of the board and founding member of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). He is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and served in the U.S. Navy as a medical officer from 1988-1999. As a devout practicing Muslim, Dr. Jasser has always been very active in the study of Islam and its intersections with American culture, including multiple efforts at interfaith work during his years in the U.S. Navy and into civilian life in Phoenix. In 2000 he and a local rabbi founded The Children of Abraham, an active Muslim-Jewish dialogue group in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has also served as the Muslim representative on the board of directors of the Arizona Interfaith Movement since December 2001. In 2002, Dr. Jasser founded AIDF to begin to build a body of Islamic opinions which discussed the synergy of American principles of pluralism and the faith of Islam. It was Dr. Jasser's opinion that it is the responsibility of Muslims in America and worldwide to lead the global effort to combat Islamism and the ideologies which feed the terrorism committed by Muslims in the name of Islam.

Naser Khader
Naser Khader is a member of the Parliament of Denmark for Radikale Venstre and is one of the country's most popular politicians. A leading proponent of peaceful co-existence of democracy and Islam, he established a new movement, Moderate Muslims (later renamed to Democratic Muslims), in response to the controversy surrounding cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. Khader pleads for an uncompromising commitment to democracy, which forms the basis of the Democratic Muslims movement in Denmark.

Mateen Siddiqui
Mateen Siddiqui is vice president of the Islamic Supreme Council of America (ISCA), a religious educational organization dedicated to working for the cause of traditional Islam and opposing extremism in every aspect of the faith He is also director of ISCA's publication department. Mr. Siddiqui served for three years as editor-in-chief of the popular and highly acclaimed The Muslim Magazine, which explored issues of fiqh, tasawwuf, and tafsir, as well as aspects of Islamic history, life, and thought. Mr. Siddiqui managed three international Islamic conferences under the chairmanship of Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani.

Mohamed Sifaoui
Mohamed Sifaoui is a French-Algerian journalist and author of Inside Al-Qaeda: How I Infiltrated the World's Deadliest Terrorist Organization, describing his work to infiltrate an Algerian jihadist cell in Paris. Recently, Sifaoui published the book L'Affaire des caricatures: Dessins et Manipulations (The Caricatures Affair: Drawings and Manipulations) on the Danish cartoon controversy.

Herbert I. London (moderator)
Herbert I. London is the president of the Hudson Institute, a post he assumed on September 1, 1997. He has been a member of the Hudson Institute Board of Trustees since 1974 and has been a senior fellow for more than thirty years, founding Hudson’s Center for Education and Employment Policy. He is the formr John M. Olin University Professor of Humanities at New York University, responsible for creating the Gallatin School in 1972, where he served as dean until 1992. He is a tenured professor of social studies at New York University. London is a noted social critic whose work has appeared in many major newspapers and journals. He is a contributing editor for Saint Croix Review and American Arts Quarterly, and is the author and editor of 21 books.

Russell D. Howard (moderator)
Brigadier General (retired) Russell D. Howard is the founding director of the Jebsen Center for Counter Terrorism Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. His Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Understanding the New Security Environment (McGraw-Hill, 2003; second edition 2005) is the country’s best-selling textbook on the subject. His other books include Defeating Terrorism (McGraw-Hill, 2003) and Homeland Security and Terrorism (McGraw-Hill, 2005). Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, General Howard was Head of the Department of Social Sciences and the founding director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. General Howard’s previous positions include Deputy Department Head of the Department of Social Sciences, Commander of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis, Washington, Assistant to the Special Representative to the Secretary General during UNOSOM II in Somalia, Deputy Chief of Staff for I Corps, and Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander for the Combined Joint Task Force, Haitian Advisory Group.

For additional information, please contact:

The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies
Attn: Jeannine Lenehan or Benedetta Berti Alberti
Tel: 617-627-4740 Fax: 617-627-5436
Email: jeannine.lenehan@tufts.edu or mailto:benedetta.berti_alberti@tufts.edu
Web: http://fletcher.tufts.edu/jebsencenter