ICSR is a partnership in which King's College London, the University of Pennsylvania, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel), and the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention (Jordan) are equal stakeholders. The four institutions have come together to confront a challenge which is common to us all, regardless of national, religious or cultural background. ICSR is the first project aimed at countering radicalisation and political violence in which Arab and Israeli academic institutions openly collaborate.
There are few areas of domestic or international public policy where the
case for exploration and enquiry is more pressing, where the need for
understanding a debate is more urgent. I applaud you on this important
initiative.
Jacqui Smith, UK Home Secretary
The
issues tackled by ICSR are directly relevant to people in the Middle
East and beyond. ICSR will bring access to a range of real
professionals, who work day in day out on questions of radicalization and the
latest tools used to address this challenge.
Mohamed Chebaro, Al Arabiya, London Bureau Chief
There is absolutely no question in my mind that the world needed this.
The greater understanding that we have of the reasons a person chooses to
travel down this dark road, from political activism to setting a bomb off
somewhere, the better we will be able to design strategies to effectively
counter it, and the more effective will be our efforts as we focus on root
causes rather than the symptoms.
Francisco Santos Calderon, Vice-President, Colombia
I want to thank King's College London, the University
of Pennsylvania... as well as the
institutions from Israel and
Jordan,
who have devoted so much of their lives and attention and focus and energies on
making a better world for all of us. Thank you.
Chuck Hagel, United States Senator
When I saw... something that is organised in London
by four prominent institutions from the United
States, Jordan,
Israel and the UK, I thought this
is a very good idea that they do such work.
Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia Herzegovina
When I
was in government, I wished that something like ICSR existed. It's extremely
important for those of us making the policies to have a forum from which to get
independent expert advice and analysis to help with some of the tough questions
that you don't have the time to examine in depth.
Kim Campbell, Former Prime
Minister of Canada
It is
great to see an initiative which translates the wisdom and expertise of the
world's leading experts into something that has a real impact.
Peter Bergen, CNN Chief Terrorism Analyst and Author of Holy War Inc.
GLOBAL: ICSR is the first truly global centre for knowledge and leadership in the area of radicalisation and political violence, with four leading academic institutions from three continents.
FIRST-RATE ANALYSIS: ICSR will produce first-rate analysis, enabling policymakers to better understand and tackle the most pressing problems in the areas of radicalisation and political violence.
HIGH-LEVEL ENGAGEMENT: ICSR will bring together the world's leading scholars, policymakers and practitioners, combining scholarly insight, political foresight and business acumen. It will be a forum through which outcome-driven dialogues and track-two diplomacy will be conducted.
IMPROVING PUBLIC POLICY: ICSR will improve public policy on terrorism and political violence by providing the intellectual tools needed to address the problem.
OUTCOME-DRIVEN DIALOGUES: ICSR will bring together and facilitate systematic, outcome-driven dialogues between senior policymakers and stakeholders from different national, religious and political backgrounds.
A GREENHOUSE FOR IDEAS: ICSR will become the key mechanism through which policymakers, experts and security professionals meet and develop their thinking on one of the greatest challenges of our time.