Intercultural dialogue as constructive and positive communication : from intercultural communication to global peace-building

This chapter conceptually highlights an important role intercultural dialogue plays in international relations as constructive and positive communication to achieve intercultural understanding and global peace-building. It also reflects on how conflicts are caused and how they could be managed across cultural boundaries. This is apparently becoming increasingly urgent as there are many intercultural conflicts, ranging from politics to diverse cultural practices. All these issues combined make intercultural relations at country level tense and in turn cause instability in some regions around the world. There are many reasons behind the situation, but one of the major reasons is lack of sufficient intercultural communication at an equal footing. It is worth reflecting on history as a guide to the present and future. Only when consistent democracy and equal rights are implemented for international community to participate in intercultural dialogue and intercultural communication in a constructive and positive manner is it conducive to international stability and global peace-building.