The fuzzy place of interreligious dialogue in the international community’s intercultural dialogue efforts

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to shed light on the diverse role and place attributed to interreligious dialogue in the intercultural dialogue initiatives advanced by a wealth of international organisations over the last 20 years. It claims that the position of interreligious dialogue within these broader international efforts can be either blended, disjunct, autonomous or neglected, and that this variation primarily depends on how each organisation has dealt with both the position of the West-Islam juxtaposition in the definition and implementation of its intercultural dialogue agenda, and on its specific understanding of the relation between the concepts of culture and religion. Analysing the discourse, governance and policy dimensions of a wealth of such international organisations’ initiatives, this paper provides a typology of existing approaches to interreligious dialogue which will further contribute exposing the underlying rationale behind intercultural dialogue efforts in international politics and untangling the fuzziness around this concept.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural dialogue
• interreligious dialogue
• international politics
• international organisations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Despite considered as erroneous to capture the complexity and dynamism of cultural relations (Said 2001; Senghaas 2002), the term ‘civilisations’ has frequently complemented the use of ‘culture’ in many international organisations’ ICD efforts, without marking, however, any distinguishable pattern in terms of policy rhetoric or implementation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pietro de Perini

Dr. Pietro de Perini has obtained his PhD at City, University of London. He is an International Relations researcher at the University of Padova, Italy, specialised in the analysis of the role of values and norms (including human rights and intercultural dialogue) in international politics and foreign policy analysis. He is also affiliated to the University of Padova Human Rights Centre.

Desirée Campagna

Dr. Desirée Campagna has obtained her PhD in Human Rights, Society and Multi-level Governance (jointly awarded by the University of Padova, Western Sydney, Zagreb, Athens Panteion and Nicosia). She is a researcher and consultant in the field of cultural policy and public policy evaluation, currently working for the private consultancy PTSCLAS S.p.A (Italy). She has a specific expertise in the analysis of the international and European agendas on culture, including interculturalism/multiculturalism, cultural rights and participatory governance.