ISPU Fellows Mehmet Celebi and Azeem Ibrahim Outline Strategy to Improve US Image to Policy Makers

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI, February 03, 2011 (Press-News.org) Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) Fellows Azeem Ibrahim and Mehmet Celebi reviewed key factors indicating the urgent need for effective public diplomacy in Muslim-majority countries during a series of meetings in which they shared findings from their latest report, "How to Improve the United States' Image in the Muslim World."

The report outlines how to address recently identified trends such as the decentralization of organizations like Al Qaeda and the rise of self starter terror cells, coupled with global demographic changes that will result in a significant increase in Muslim populations in the developing world over the next few decades.

Azeem Ibrahim and Mehmet Celebi, along with ISPU Executive Director Shireen Zaman, met with Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers representing Chairman John Kerry and Ranking Member Richard Lugar as well as Foreign Policy Fellow for Chairman of Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, Senator Robert Casey. The ISPU team also met with representatives from the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and the Office of the Special Envoy to Muslim Communities at the State Department as well as officials from the Department of Defense Office of Communications, Planning and Integration.

The highly interactive meetings included discussions on specific programs and tactics to improve understanding between the US and those living in Muslim-majority countries. Azeem Ibrahim and Mehmet Celebi emphasized the need for objective scientific information and diverse messengers rather than ideology and assumptions which seemed to have been the basis of previous policies. The authors also presented thirteen wide-ranging recommendations for policy makers including specific training programs for State Department officials in Muslim countries, utilizing local media to target particular demographic groups and importance of democratic Muslim countries such as Turkey playing a key role.

The full report is available at ISPU's website: http://www.ispu.org.

Contact:
Shireen Zaman
ISPU Executive Director
szaman@ispu.org
(202) 294-4213

Notes:
Azeem Ibrahim is a Fellow and Member of the Board of Directors at the ISPU and a former Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and World Fellow at Yale

Mehmet Celebi is Fellow at the ISPU and a Member of the Dean's International Council at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy Studies.

About ISPU:

The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) is an independent nonprofit public policy research organization. Our mission is to provide expert analysis, insight and context to critical issues facing our nation, with an emphasis on those issues related to Muslim communities in the U.S. and abroad. To learn more about ISPU, and to download copies of our publications, please visit http://www.ispu.org.