The Islam in the West Program is an initiative of Jocelyne Cesari, Research Associate at the Prince Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program. Its Harvard activities are the result of an interdisciplinary partnership between the Prince Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for European Studies, and the Islamic Legal Studies Program of the Harvard Law School. In the U.S., it has received funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the U.S. Department of Education (via CMES’s status as a Title VI National Resource Center). In Europe, it is supported by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris and has received funding from the European Commission (see www.euro-islam.info).
Western Europe and North America are home to rapidly expanding Muslim minorities, increasing the need for data on the relationship between Islam and democracy. The Islam in the West Program aims to contribute to the global debate on Islam through an in-depth examination of the religious, political, and social situations of American and European Muslims, and by illuminating the relationships of these communities with the Muslim world at large.
From 2001 through 2012 the Islam in the West Program was housed at CMES and funded in part with Title VI National Resource Center grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education. The Islam in the West Program is currently housed at the Prince Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program. A comprehensive description of current activities and a repository of past activities is found on the project website.