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The IPS Issues the Arabic Version of "An Inclusive World In which the West, Islam and the Rest have a Stake, 2007 Report"

Alexandria— The Institute for Peace Studies (IPS) affiliated to the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement, and hosted by the BA, issued the Arabic version of the 2007 Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) report, "An Inclusive World: in which the West, Islam and the Rest have a Stake".

The five-part report provides a fresh analysis of some of the critical issues dividing humanity today and explores politically feasible concepts to build an alternative future. Part I of this report defines the problem while the subsequent parts provide solutions.

Part I also examines some of the historical roots of the growing deficit of trust between Western and Islamic countries. The Arab region today faces a crisis of knowledge. However, there is a tendency in Western discourse to claim a monopoly on the advancement of human civilization and ignore contribution made by the Arab society in the past.

Part II proposes ideas for restructuring relations between Western and Islamic countries, in addition to the installation of an inclusive semi permanent conference on the Middle East to resolve the Palestinian conflict and other regional security issues. This part also suggests a Western-Islamic Dialogue and Engagement (WIDE) Initiative for a group of inspired and effective leaders to come together to develop proposals for conceptual clarity and to build political cooperation between Western and Islamic countries.

Part III makes a distinction between terrorism and extremism. The former implies violence causing bodily harm, with political or ideological motives, while the latter may not involve violent or criminal acts, and might be more dangerous than the former. While terrorism pervades the developing world, there are signs of forces of extremism rising in the developing world as well as Europe and North America. The analysis reveals that certain common factors drive terrorism and extremism alike – comprehensive political and socioeconomic deprivation, which must be distinguished from absolute poverty.

Part IV offers a compact of the 3 declarations to deal with the problems of alienation in the world at large. It is necessary for each society to tackle relative deprivation with specific models of democracy, development and dialogue that are appropriate to its own circumstance.

In Part V, the report identifies steps for leaders and citizens to make some of the ideas work. A shift is needed from the use of force to a collaborative problem solving approach in the conduct of international relations. It is worth mentioning that the concept of ‘an inclusive world’ was presented for the first time in December 2005, by Sundeep Waslekar, President, Strategic Foresight Group, in the Nelson Mandela Benefit Dinner in Dubai, organized by Dubai Consortium. Sundeep Waslekar stated that exclusion caused by comprehensive relative deprivation fostered terrorism and extremism and therefore it was necessary to create inclusive structures to dissuade young people from taking up violence. The speech attracted significant interest from different parts of the world, including leaders such as Suzanne Mubarak, First Lady of Egypt, former President William Clinton of the United States and Her Highness Sheikha Moza of Qatar. For more information, visit: http://www.strategicforesight.com