Abstract

Liberal, democratic societies are facing the growing threat of radicalization1. As the last few years have proven, radicalization has not nor will ever be confined to destabilized regions or nations ruled by a brutal dictator.2 Nations that are seeming “beacons of hope” —liberal, western democracies— have seen increasing segments of their populations radicalized. Most tend to associate radicalization with Islamic terrorism rooted in the Middle East, but this is a mistake as it limits the scope of the problem of radicalization. By linking radicalization to a path of violent action and limiting it to Muslims, we are missing potential segments of our population who are either vulnerable to or already in the process of radicalization. Many modern social and political philosophers have debated the merits of respect and toleration to lessen injustice and promote freedom from harm. Currently, there is little work to tie together radicalization and counter-radicalization. I aim to bridge this gap. I believe that radicalization at its most basic level is a product of harm and one method to prevent citizens from being impacted by harm is implementing the practice of toleration. By extension then, if we practice toleration, we should see a decrease in the instances of radicalization. I am in this paper to make this clear and advocate for an adoption of a more inclusive and tolerant political society to defeat the system that allows for radicalization to occur.