Islam in the West Program

. The interdisciplinary “Islam in the West” program was created in 2001 at Harvard University to develop research on Muslim groups in Western democracies and their influence on international issues from conflict to democratization.

The objectives of the Islam in the West (IIW) program include:

• • Increasing knowledge of both Muslim minorities in secular Western contexts and their positions vis-à-vis the Muslim world-at-large through an active research program;
• • Creating an interdisciplinary arena for the study of religion and politics which brings together Harvard scholars from different disciplines and engage political scientists outside the usual “cultural areas”.
• Creating academic networks with Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Morocco or Turkey that influence Islam and Muslims in the West through migration, economic, ideological or religious networks.
• • Receiving visiting scholars from allover the world (Europe, Australia, China) to work on these topics.
• Strengthening cooperation of American Universities with their counter parts in Europe and the Middle East.

Recent projects include the creation in 2007 of IslamopediaOnline (www.islamopediaonline.org), a website that captures the depth and breadth the nexus of Islam and Governance in multiple national and cultural contexts.

On the European side, the program has built a vast network of scholars across Western and Eastern Europe that contribute regularly to the euro-islam website, which is considered as the site of reference for research and news on Islam and Muslims in Europe (see www.euro-islam.info).