Introduction

Since 2002, when the Strategic Foresight Group was established, terrorism and the apparent conflict between West and Islam have dominated global policy discourse. While several organisations have made efforts to promote better understanding between the Western and the Islamic worlds, much of it has been focussed on religious leaders and scholars. Sensing the political deficit in the search for common ground, specifically on terrorism and other sensitive security issues, SFG has concentrated on political initiatives and successfully engaged high level political leaders from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Initially, the Strategic Foresight Group intervened in this debate with fresh analysis and ideas developed in the course of deliberations with scholars from most parts of the world. In January 2004, Global Agenda, the official organ of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, published some of the ideas resulting from SFG’s research. In June 2004, SFG convened the First International Roundtable on Constructing Peace, Deconstructing Terror at New Delhi in cooperation with Friedrich Naumann Stiftung and Essar Shipping Ltd. It brought together leading strategic thinkers from the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The roundtable issued Delhi Declaration on Sustainable Global Security. Its key recommendations included making a distinction between terrorism as a phenomenon and acts of terror, and dissociation of religion from terror.

Strategic Foresight Group has been engaged in a process of consultations with various governments, multilateral bodies and experts. The prominent leaders with whom SFG has had intense consultations include:

Others with whom SFG has had consultations include Parliamentarians, counter terrorism coordinators and directors of global security divisions of various governments. SFG has also participated in a number of roundtable discussions organised by the following institutions to discuss key substantive ideas emanating from the initiative:

In June 2005, SFG convened Second International Roundtable on Constructing Peace, Deconstructing Terror, jointly with the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, in cooperation with Friedrich Naumann Stiftung. Some of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic world and Europe, as well as official representatives of the Government of Canada participated in the roundtable. They issued a consensus statement titled Brussels Consensus.

The Brussels Consensus is a set of innovative policy measures, including principles of sustainable global security, zero tolerance for acts of terror, a strategy of desegregation while dealing with groups engaging in terror, and international cooperation for the transformation of societies at risk. The roundtable also called for a world summit of political leaders to deconstruct terror.

In November 2006, SFG along with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe convened over the Third International Roundtable, held at the European Parliament in Brussels. The roundtable was endorsed by the League of Arab States as well, as engaged important institutions from the Western and Islamic worlds. A distinguished group of around 40 leaders from Europe, Asia and the Middle East recommended an Inclusive Semi Permanent Conference on Peace in the Middle East, Western Islamic Dialogue and Engagement Initiative, International Historical Study Group on Common Human Civilization, Arab Islamic Renaissance Initiative and the promotion of the Compact of Dialogue-Democracy-Development.