Interreligious Dialogue and Its Contribution to International Security.

 

Over the past two decades, global security has been quite unstable, facing many new challenges. Since 11 September 2011, when hijacked aircrafts hit the towers in New York, the main rising threat of the international security has been terrorism. Deriving mainly from religious radicalism, it has caused many casualties in many countries around the world — without making any exceptions between east, west, south, or north. Many governments and key international organizations, such as the UN, NATO, and EU, have included security countering as a priority for preventing terrorism and violent extremism. These developed strategies can be classified into two categories according to the phase they are implemented: on one hand, there are preventive strategies and, on the other hand, there are countering strategies. Preventive activities such as education, inclusive development, interethnic, and interreligious dialogue can be labeled as a “soft way” and activities of countering terrorism, which mainly use military and policy interventions, can be classified as “hard ways.” Preventive strategies, because there are many elements, need lot of time and efforts; in comparison to the “hard ways” of countering terrorism, they are more effective and less costly. These strategies comprise the inclusive development and promotion of tolerance and respectfor diversity. As terrorism during previous decades has been mainly motivated by religious ideologies, this makes the interreligious dialogue a very crucial action to prevent societies, religious group, and individuals from the manipulation and becoming part of the vicious cycle of terrorist activities. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations have been very active in the areas of promoting interfaith dialogue in different parts of the world. Religious coexistence and peaceful living has always been very important, but, at such a time, this can be considered of a vital significance. This coexistence besides the important role to keep social and political sustainability in the country also has a contribution to international security. This article analyzes the interreligious dialogue and its contribution to international security by giving several examples and especially the case of Albania.

Global Study on the implementation of Security.