The mission of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), is to explore antisemitism within a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework from an array of approaches and perspectives as well as global, national and regional contexts.  This mission encompasses the study of such subjects as changing historical phases of antisemitism, how antisemitism relates to other forms of hatred, to what extent it is unique, how some societies are able to resist antisemitism, and how policies could be developed and utilized to combat it. 

The academic study of antisemitism, like prejudice more generally, has a long and impressive intellectual and research history.  It remains a topic of on-going political and policy importance and scholarly engagement.  However, unlike prejudice and discrimination directed at other social groups, antisemitism is almost always studied outside an organized academic framework. A key element of the ISGAP mission is to develop the study of critical contemporary antisemitism studies, and ensure that it becomes an accepted component of university education and curriculum, as well as policy development.

ISGAP is committed to creating high caliber academic programming, such as the ISGAP-Oxford Summer Institute for Curriculum Development on Critical Antisemitism Studies, the training of civil servants,  international seminars series, research projects that address pertinent contemporary subject matter, and policy development to map, decode and confront contemporary antisemitism effectively.  Eminent scholars and researchers are invited regularly, to present seminar papers and engage in research projects at both conceptual and empirical levels. The encouraging of the publication of analytical studies that examine a prejudice that remains widespread, recurrent, and often overlooked within the ‘academy’ is a central objective of the mission.

Antisemitism is one of the most complex and, at times, perplexing forms of hatred. It spans centuries of history, infecting different societies, religious, philosophical and political movements, and even civilizations. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, some have even argued that antisemitism illustrates the limitations of the Enlightenment and modernity itself.  Manifestations of antisemitism emerge in numerous ideologically based narratives and the constructed identities of belonging and otherness such as race and ethnicity, nationalist and anti-nationalist movements.  In the contemporary context of globalized relations, it appears that antisemitism has taken on new complex and changing forms that need to be decoded, mapped, and exposed.

ISGAP, founded in 2004 is the first interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the study of antisemitism.  ISGAP is dedicated to creating an international perspective and presence, essential in a globalizing world. ISGAP aims to create a vibrant space, within the classroom of universities throughout the world in which high caliber scholarship, discussion, and debate can develop and be nurtured.