Pew Global Attitudes Project

According to the Project's web site, the Pew Global Attitudes Project is "a series of worldwide public opinion surveys, originally of more than 38,000 people in 44 countries, and expanded with additional surveys to a total of more than 66,000 people among the 50 populations surveyed (49 countries plus the Palestinian Authority). The project encompasses a broad array of subjects ranging from people's assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. Global Attitudes is chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, currently Principal, the Albright Group, LLC. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, is the project director. The Global Attitudes Project is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, with a supplemental grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

"The Global Attitudes Project was originally conceived with two primary objectives: to gauge attitudes in every region toward globalization, trade and an increasingly connected world; and to measure changes in attitudes toward democracy and other key issues among some of the European populations surveyed in the 13-nation 1991 benchmark survey, the Pulse of Europe (also directed by Dr. Albright and Mr. Kohut). After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the scope of the project was broadened to measure attitudes about terrorism, the intersection between the Islamic faith and public policy in countries with significant Muslim populations, and to more deeply probe attitudes toward the United States in all countries. Recent Global Attitudes surveys have probed worldwide opinion about international news developments, including the war in Iraq.

"This is the second major release of the Pew Global Attitudes Project and it focuses on a changing world, specifically regarding globalization, democratization, modernization and, in countries with significant Muslim populations, the role of Islam in public policy. The first major report, What the World Thinks in 2002, was released December 4, 2002. It focused on how people view their own lives, their countries and the world, as well as attitudes toward the United States. It was followed by a smaller release on the importance of religion worldwide (December 19, 2002) and a new nine-country survey on the eve of the Iraq war ("America's Image Further Erodes, Europeans Want Weaker Ties," March 18, 2003). The inaugural effort of this project was a worldwide survey in 24 countries of 275 opinion leaders (influential people in politics, media, business, culture and government). The survey, entitled "America Admired, Yet Its New Vulnerability Seen As Good Thing, Say Opinion Leaders," was released December 19, 2001. Links to more surveys, including the June 3, 2003 Views of a Changing World 2003: War With Iraq Further Divides Global Publics.

"Other Global Attitudes team members include Bruce Stokes, an international economics columnist at the National Journal; Mary McIntosh, vice-president of Princeton Survey Research Associates, and Elizabeth Mueller Gross and Nicole Speulda, both of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

"Secretary Albright chairs the Pew Global Attitudes Project international advisory board, consisting of policy experts and business leaders. In addition, the Global Attitudes Project team consulted with survey and policy experts, academic regional and economic experts, activists and policy-makers. Their expertise provided tremendous guidance in shaping the surveys.

"Following this release, the data will be examined in greater detail for a series of in-depth discussions and publications of several of the varied topics covered in these surveys. The Pew Global Attitudes Project is a unique, comprehensive, internationally comparable series of surveys that will be available to journalists, academics, policymakers and the public.

International Advisory Board

 * Madeleine K. Albright, Chair, The Albright Group, LLC, Washington, DC, USA
 * Lloyd Axworthy, Director and CEO, Liu Center for the Study of Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Mill Bay, Canada
 * Stephen M. Case, Former Chairman of the Board, AOL Time Warner, Inc., Washington, DC, USA
 * Hernando De Soto, President, Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Lima, Peru
 * Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, Brussels, Belgium
 * Leslie H. Gelb, President, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC, USA
 * Peter C. Goldmark, Former Chairman and CEO, International Herald Tribune, Paris, France
 * David Hannay, Former UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, London, England
 * Carla Anderson Hills, Chairman and CEO, Hills & Company, Washington, DC, USA
 * Henry Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc., New York, NY, USA
 * Yotaro Kobayashi, Chairman, Fuji-Xerox, Tokyo, Japan
 * Tommy Koh, Director, The Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore
 * Philippe Lampreia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 * Jessica Tuchman Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, USA
 * Don McHenry, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
 * Queen Noor of Jordan
 * John Passacantando, Executive Director, Greenpeace USA, Washington, DC, USA
 * Peter G. Peterson, Chairman, The Blackstone Group, New York, NY
 * Moeen Qureshi, Chairman, Emerging Markets Partnership, Washington, DC, USA
 * Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, New York, NY, USA
 * Jenny Shipley, Member of Parliament, Rakaia, New Zealand
 * Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International, Dublin, Ireland
 * John J. Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC, USA
 * Desmond M. Tutu, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus, Cape Town, South Africa
 * Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Dean, London Business School, London, England
 * B. Joseph White, Managing Director, Fred Alger Management, Inc., New York, NY, USA
 * Tadashi Yamamoto, President, Japan Center for International Exchange, New York, NY, USA
 * Charles Zhang, Director and CEO, Sohu.com, Beijing, China