Devrim Kabasakal

Reasons for Toleration as an International Issue

As the period of Reformation is considered, one can say that toleration emerged as both an intra-state and inter-state phenomenon. In this sense, in the 16 and 17 centuries, toleration did not only arise as an issue for the rulers in relation to their subjects, but also in relation to one another: Catholic and Protestant rulers had to face the question whether they should tolerate one another. Cuius regio eius religio came to the agenda as a principle of toleration even though it was largely pragmatic in its basis. Within the contemporary literature, surprisingly, toleration has been studied widely as an intra-state issue rather than an inter-state one. Although we might think of many occasions in international realm in which the question of toleration is raised, international toleration has not been the object of attention much. This paper aims to demonstrate that there is a place for toleration in our thinking of international realm. In line with this argument, it is the goal to show how toleration might be regarded as an international issue by drawing upon possible diverse reasons that might be offered for toleration as an international issue such as non-moral prudential, moral consequentialist, moral principled reasons and skepticism. These reasons will be examined to demonstrate the possibility of toleration as an international matter.