chaval
17th January 2006, 21:32
samuel huntington has proposed that the future would be marked by a clash of civilizations; those of the muslim east versus the christian west due to their opposing cultures. Here is a very brief summary of his paper "Clash of Civilizations"
Great division among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural
Group countries not in terms of their political or economic systems but rather in terms of their culture and civilization.
Why Civilizations will Clash
World will be shaped in large measure by interactions among 7-8 major civilizations
1) differences among civs are real and BASIC
2) in a globalized world, interactions are increasing
3) processes of econ modernization and social change throughout the world are separating people from longstanding local identities weakening nation-state as a source of identity – religion fills in this gap
4) growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by West – return to roots phenomenon – de-westernization and indigenization of elites in 3rd world countries
5) cultural differences less mutable and less easily compromised than econ/political ones
6) economic regionalism is increasing
War between Arabs and West – West promotes non-proliferation while others assert their right to acquire weapons: arms competition b/w Islam-Confucian vs. West
“kin-country” syndrome replacing political ideology to rally support: seen in conflicts in Persian Gulf, Bosnia
West versus rest – decisions made at UN Security Council or IMF reflect interests of West presented to the world as desires of the “world” community
Differences in power and struggle for military, econ etc + differences in culture = source of conflict
I was wondering what people thought on the matter. In my opinion it is wrong because history has shown us that violence against the state and inter-group conflicts have actually gone down in recent years. the tensions that are most strained are actually internal intergroup state conflicts rather than conflicts across opposing groups. Huntington claims that the major clahes will be where the civilizations meet such as Bosnia yet it does nothing to explain all the conflicts such as those of Rwanda or the Iran-Iraq war with were within the SAME cultural sphere! Huntington also later defines a civilization in mostly religious terms yet this cannot be right. Latin America is mostly catholic but so is Europe. How can these two culturally different socieites be thrown into one pot? I'm pretty sure Croatia is quite culturally different from Argentina. Huntington refers to Africa as one civilization yet think of the vast differences among each state and even within a state. Most importantly, however, is the fact that modern conflicts are usually NOT about religion. so i ahve heard that Huntington is a "blackhole of knowlege" who does us harm with such crazy theories but in all seriousness....mb he has a point?
what do you think?
Great division among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural
Group countries not in terms of their political or economic systems but rather in terms of their culture and civilization.
Why Civilizations will Clash
World will be shaped in large measure by interactions among 7-8 major civilizations
1) differences among civs are real and BASIC
2) in a globalized world, interactions are increasing
3) processes of econ modernization and social change throughout the world are separating people from longstanding local identities weakening nation-state as a source of identity – religion fills in this gap
4) growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by West – return to roots phenomenon – de-westernization and indigenization of elites in 3rd world countries
5) cultural differences less mutable and less easily compromised than econ/political ones
6) economic regionalism is increasing
War between Arabs and West – West promotes non-proliferation while others assert their right to acquire weapons: arms competition b/w Islam-Confucian vs. West
“kin-country” syndrome replacing political ideology to rally support: seen in conflicts in Persian Gulf, Bosnia
West versus rest – decisions made at UN Security Council or IMF reflect interests of West presented to the world as desires of the “world” community
Differences in power and struggle for military, econ etc + differences in culture = source of conflict
I was wondering what people thought on the matter. In my opinion it is wrong because history has shown us that violence against the state and inter-group conflicts have actually gone down in recent years. the tensions that are most strained are actually internal intergroup state conflicts rather than conflicts across opposing groups. Huntington claims that the major clahes will be where the civilizations meet such as Bosnia yet it does nothing to explain all the conflicts such as those of Rwanda or the Iran-Iraq war with were within the SAME cultural sphere! Huntington also later defines a civilization in mostly religious terms yet this cannot be right. Latin America is mostly catholic but so is Europe. How can these two culturally different socieites be thrown into one pot? I'm pretty sure Croatia is quite culturally different from Argentina. Huntington refers to Africa as one civilization yet think of the vast differences among each state and even within a state. Most importantly, however, is the fact that modern conflicts are usually NOT about religion. so i ahve heard that Huntington is a "blackhole of knowlege" who does us harm with such crazy theories but in all seriousness....mb he has a point?
what do you think?