National tolerance program of the United Arab Emirates: universal and spiritual values

Abstract

The importance of tolerance in the multicultural reality of the modern world cannot be overestimated. Toler-ance is essential in the conceptual foundations of many states’ domestic and foreign policy. Against the back-ground of developing various models of tolerance in the world, there is also a reverse trend towards revivingtraditional and religious values. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) promotes its position on the importance oftraditional values and tolerance in shaping the conceptual foundations of the country's domestic and foreignpolicy. The UAE Federal Cabinet has approved a National Tolerance Program that promotes brotherhood andpeaceful coexistence between different cultures and religions and fully supports traditional values. The articleanalyses the conceptualization of tolerance, its distinctive features, value bases and potential for implementa-tion in the Middle East region. The methodological and theoretical basis of the research was the work relatedto approaches in interpreting different views on understanding the concept of tolerance in the UAE. The arti-cle concludes that the balance between universal and traditional values of the Islamic world is the main fea-ture of the national tolerance program. It is also expected that, given the growing influence of the UAE in theMiddle East, this model of tolerance may become widespread and become a new basis for consolidation inthe Middle East.