The Alliance of Civilisations champions mutual respect for religious beliefs and traditions in an increasingly interdependent world in which nations and cultures are bound together in their development and security, and in their environmental, economic and financial well-being. The Alliance seeks to forge a collective political will and to mobilise concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarisation that hinder intercultural dialogue and hamper the achievement of consensus. Its goal is to contribute to a global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society. To this end, it will employ soft diplomacy as a tool to mitigate radicalism and fundamentalism. The project particularly emphasises the need to involve civil society in efforts to build bridges to promote world peace.
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The call for an alliance was first made by Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and it is co-sponsored by the governments of Spain and Turkey. These countries have already pledged the initial contributions to a trust fund set up to finance the initiative. After the Alliance was taken on board by the United Nations, the Secretary-General appointed a High Level Group comprising persons of international prestige. The Group went on to conduct an analysis of the world situation and formulate a number of recommendations, which were submitted in November 2006.