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Islam, the Balkans,
and the
European 'Neighbourhood' Project

 Initial Work and Advocacy Plan
July 2005
 

A. Aim of the project

 The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the development of new strategies and neighbourhood policies that bear in mind the cultural and religious factors, particularly Islam, from the perspective and within the context of Wider Europe processes. This overall goal will be achieved through the realization of the following main specific objectives:

• Carry out interdisciplinary research on Islam and the manifestation of Muslim identity in the public sphere, particularly in the Balkans but with reference to the processes in the Middle East and within the broader context of the EU and its 'neighbourhood' project;
  
• Debate the capacity of the new Muslim publics to participate in a public process of peacemaking and promoting the advantages of an open society in order to contribute to the overcoming the broader cultural divide between “Islam” and the “West”, exploring also the Bulgarian, and more generally the Balkan, model for interethnic and interfaith coexistence in the ENP context;
  
• Outline possible ways and the extent at which Islam should play a role as a factor in the design and the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) from the perspective of the Balkans, and particularly Bulgaria as EU member;
  
• Identify and propose new secular mechanisms for working with and through religion, particularly Islam, in the process of policy design rather than to by-pass religion as traditional secular approaches suggest;
  
• Prepare a research paper and work out a policy paper containing policy recommendations for the Bulgarian government and the European institutions in Brussels devoted to the issue at which extent Islam should play a role in the further design and the implementation of the European 'neighbourhood' project.

 

• The OSI-Budapest and the various OSI network programs as the East-East Program could benefit from the project, serving at the same time as partners and providing mechanisms for its implementation and sustainability.
• The Center for Policy Studies (CPS), affiliated with the Central European University in Budapest, is one of the key possible partners, which could enable the further implementation of the project’s results on academic level, e.g. through seminars, curriculum initiatives and discussions around the role of Islam in the context of the European ‘neighbourhood’ project.
  
• One of the main potential partners is the OSI-Brussels because it has been dealing extensively with the ENP and the Wider Europe challenge, and its programs have already achieved specific positive results in cooperation with other organizations, e.g. with the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels.
  
• Since in the future the current IPF Project might be enlarged through a comparative research on the United States policies towards the Muslim neighbourhood of the EU, the New York office of the OSI could support the identification of relevant stakeholders and institutions.
  
• A partnership with the OSI offices and other OSI sponsored institutes and think tanks in the Middle East and Europe will be very useful for the specific work on the project as well as for its sustainability.
  
• The OSI-Sofia and the Bulgarian Open Society Foundation could also benefit from the project in different aspects, including during their current activities to encourage, select and evaluate local initiatives related to minority issues, human rights and intercultural education.

I. Research paper

            Islam and the Challenge of Wider Europe

1) Introduction.
2) Islam and Politics.

• Historical and doctrinal background within Islamic tradition.
• Contemporary Muslim political regimes: towards identity politics.
• Islamic religio-political thought and movements.
• Towards Muslim publics in the Muslim majority countries and the West: towards a religious public sphere
• The fragmentation of religious authority in contemporary Muslim communities.
• Moderate and radical voices in the Muslim public sphere.
• Challenges to the Muslim-majority world and Europe.

• An overview of the relations between the Muslim world and the Christendom.

• Before and after September 2001.
• Islam and the EU policies: towards the idea of the European ‘neighborhood’.
• Secular Europe and its Muslim ‘neighbourhood’.
• Islam and the Barcelona Process.
• The challenge of Wider Europe and the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).
  

• The Arab world: the cases of Lebanon and Egypt.
• Turkey: between candidate and ‘neighbour’.
• The Muslim minorities and majorities in the Balkans: the Albanian Muslim of Macedonia and Kosovo and the Bosniacs.
• Bulgaria: the first EU full member from Eastern Europe with a large Muslim minority.

The material of Chapter 4 and 5 will constitute a 20-page policy study moving along the following major tracks:

• Identifying problems;
• Policy options analysis;
• Policy recommendations.

• This project’s policy paper will contain policy recommendations about the role of Islam in the ENP context for the Bulgarian government, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  
• The policy brief could be considered for publication by the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels.
  
• In Bulgaria the policy paper will also be published on the website of the Center for Intercultural Studies and Partnership (CISP).
  
• It will be also sent for publication to another partner websites.
  
• The interviewed policymakers and religious leaders in Bulgaria and abroad will receive an electronic copy of the paper by e-mail.
  
• The media coverage of the project’s aims, activities and results will provide mechanisms for a public debate among the larger public.

 III. Workshops and meetings

• Participation at workshops, seminars and conferences, including the events organized by Sofia University, CEPS and CISP.
  
• Meetings with domestic and EU officials and policymakers as well as with Muslim religious and political leaderships in the Balkans and the Middle East.
  
• Organizing and moderating focus-groups with the participation of religious Muslim leaders and followers of Islam in Bulgaria.
  
• Discussions around the project with outstanding academics from Europe, the USA and the Middle East for both research and advocacy purposes.