Dialogue: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future

Abstract

This essay suggests the concept of dialogue as an exemplar of seminal literature that has had wide application in the past and continues to do so at present. A look at the uses of dialogue as part of the peace process in Northern Ireland provides a model. We can only hope that the current calls for dialogue to settle the most immediate crisis points in the Middle East and North Africa will be more effective than the violent repressions and revolutions, and the resort to war that have plagued the region throughout history.