ISPU Fellows Outline Strategy to Improve US Image to Policy Makers

Washington DC, DC, January 20, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) Fellows Azeem Ibrahim and Mehmet Celebi met with top policy makers to brief them on the finding of their latest report “How to Improve the United States’ Image in the Muslim World.” The report urges policy makers to treat public diplomacy as a top priority due to recently identified trends in terrorism such as the decentralization of organizations like Al Qaeda and the rise of self starter terror cells; and global demographical changes which will see a significant rise of Muslim populations in the developing world over the next few decades.

Ibrahim and 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 a 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. The fellows 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. They also presented thirteen wide-ranging recommendations for policy makers including specific training programs for State Departments officials in Muslim countries, better utilization of local media to communicate with specific demographical groups and the importance of improving relations with Turkey.

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