In recent years, many educators, public officials, and political observers have argued that the notion that international affairs is solely the business of experts is incompatible with the healthy functioning of a democracy, particularly one so involved in world affairs as the United States. Researchers have instituted a series of National Issues Forums, or deliberative discussions, around the United States about public issues.
A second sought to determine whether deliberative discussions could be carried out internationally among college students using videoconferencing technology. In the course of these discussions, a rare opportunity was provided to explore the reasoning behind survey responses of students from two very different vantage points on the subject of terrorism.
In cooperation with the American University in Cairo, Egypt (AUC), we set up a series of twelve hour-and-a-half videoconferences between a group of Rider University students and a group of the Cairo students.
The eleven Rider students came from different colleges in the institution, including business and liberal arts, sciences, and education; their majors included history, business, political science, biology, and global and multinational studies. The nineteen Cairo students were studying communications, but they hailed from nations all over the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and other countries.