SEMINAR OVERVIEW
The Institute realized that despite Islam's prominence in world affairs, most people understand it very little. To remedy this, our seminar will introduce participants to the fundamentals of Islam and the complexities of the increasingly fractious Sunni-Shiite divide. Are the basic tenets of Islam compatible with democracy? Is the current policy of promoting Western-style democracy in the Middle East a fool's errand? Does radical Islam pose a threat to the U.S. and Europe or is it merely an over-publicized irritant?
KEYNOTE
 Vali R. Nasr
Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of numerous books including The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future (2006) and Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty (2006).
SPEAKERS
 Juan Cole
Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Michigan, author of the widely-read daily blog Informed Comment and numerous books including Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi'ite Islam (2002) and the forthcoming Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Aug. 2007).
 Dr. Tawfik Hamid
An Egyptian scholar of Islam, a medical doctor, Muslim reformer and author of The Roots of Jihad (2006), Dr. Hamid speaks out again radical Islam and jihadism. He brings a unique, first-hand perspective to these issues: as a young medical student in Cairo, he briefly enlisted in a terrorist group led by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri (who is now 2nd-in-command of Al-Qaeda) and now resides in the West because of threats to his life.
 Ken Jowitt
Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley and the Pres and Maurine Hotchkis Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Jowitt specializes in the study of comparative politics, American foreign policy, and anti-Western ideologies.
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