Social Science Research Council

The project on Reframing the Challenge of Migration and Security has created a scholarly Consultative Group that is organizing – in conjunction with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – a meeting of U.S. government law enforcement officials and Muslim leaders on practices for enhancing security amidst the current threat of terrorism. This spring, government representatives from DHS, the FBI, and local law enforcement will meet with community leaders from Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami to discuss the relationships forged between both sides, to examine the best methods for reducing mutual distrust and misunderstanding, and to propose means for enhancing constructive relationships with the goal of strengthening security. Following this meeting, the group will organize a complementary meeting in Europe. At this meeting, social science researchers will frame a similar conversation between government and Muslim representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States for the purpose of identifying "best practices" in establishing positive Muslim-government relations. In both meetings, the contributions of social scientists will be to use their research knowledge to frame the questions and discussions that will take place between the government officials and Muslim leaders. These activities build upon earlier ones that are links to the right.

This project has been made possible by generous support from Carnegie Corporation of New York.