Modus vivendi beyond toleration

This chapter will focus on the relationship between toleration and modus vivendi. The overall aim is to defend an idea of modus vivendi as a strategy for the political inclusion of people who are not tolerant, without betraying the fundamentals of liberal democracies. To do that, some introductory notes about modus vivendi and toleration are required . After spelling out the essential meanings of both notions, it will be shown how they go in parallel when they are both adopted in the political frame: a) modus vivendi can be the name for negative toleration as mere non-interference; b) modus vivendi can be the name for toleration as forbearance, hence it presupposes a negative even intolerant attitude towards the ‘tolerated’; c) modus vivendi can entail a positive idea of toleration as moderate recognition; that is, modus vivendi is here a strategy for intolerant people to be included into citizenry albeit under certain conditions.