CLASH OF CIVILIZATION

INTRODUCTION
- Samuel Huntington's book "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World
Order" (1996) proposes a theory on the nature of global politics in the post-Cold War
age.
- According to Huntington, wars in the twenty-first century would be fought between
civilizations rather than between countries (nationalism) or ideologies (liberalism,
Marxism, Fascism, etc.)
- Huntington listed various diverse civilizations that make up the world today in "The
Clash of Civilizations," and argued that after the Cold War, the next conflicts will be
fought between Western civilization and the Islamic world.
THE NEXT PATTERN OF CONFLICT
- Following Westphalia (a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three
historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia) princely interests drove conflict
for the next century and a half. It was nations after the French Revolution.
- The battle of countries was replaced by the conflict of ideologies after World War I.
What's strange about all of this is that these were all fights within the West.
- International politics will be driven by the interaction between Western and non-Western
civilizations once the Cold War ends.
- People and governments from outside the West will join the West as history's movers and
shapers.

THE NATURE OF CIVILIZATION

- The Cold War distinction along political and economic lines between the First, Second,
and Third world is no longer relevant. Instead, it is more meaningful to talk about culture
and civilization.
- The following may be said about civilizations:

1. Civilizations may involve a large number of people, as with China, or a very small number of
people, such as the Anglophone Caribbean.
2. A civilization may include several nation states, as is the case with
Western, Latin American and Arab civilizations, or only one, as is the case with Japanese
civilization.
3. Civilizations obviously blend and overlap, and may include subcivilizations. Western civilization
has two major variants, European and North American, and Islam has its Arab, Turkic and Malay
subdivisions.
4. While the lines between civilisations are seldom sharp, they are real.
5. Civilizations are dynamic; they rise and fall; they divide and merge….they disappear and are
buried in the sands of time.
Nation states have been major actors in global affairs for only a short amount of time. Most of
history has been the history of civilizations.

WHY CIVILIZATION WILL CRASH

1. First, differences among civilizations are not only real; they are basic. Civilizations are
differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition and, most
important, religion. … These differences are the product of centuries. They will not soon
disappear. They are far more fundamental than differences among political ideologies and
political regimes.
2. Second, the world is becoming a smaller place. The interactions between peoples of
different civilizations are increasing, which intensifies the consciousness and awareness
of differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations
3. Third, the processes of economic modernization and social change throughout the world
are separating people from longstanding local identities. They also weaken the nation
state as a source of identity.
4. Fourth, the growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by the dual role of the West.
On the one hand, the West is at a peak of power. At the same time, however, and perhaps
as a result, a return to the roots phenomenon is occurring among non-Western
civilizations.
5. Fifth, cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily
compromised and resolved than political and economic ones. In class and ideological
conflicts, the key question was “Which side are you on?” and people could and did
choose sides and change sides. In conflicts between civilizations, the question is “What
are you?” That is a given that cannot be changed. And as we know, … the wrong answer
to that question can mean a bullet in the head.
6. Finally, economic regionalism is increasing. The importance of regional economic blocs
is likely to continue to increase in the future. … On the one hand, successful economic
regionalism will reinforce civilization-consciousness. On the other hand, economic
regionalism may succeed only when it is rooted in a common civilization.

THE FAULT LINE BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS

- Ideological boundaries are giving way to fault lines between civilisations. For instance,
the disappearance of the Cold War era ideological division between Western and Eastern
Europe, has been followed by the division of Europe between Western Christianity on the
one hand, and Orthodox Christianity and Islam on the other.
- The fault line between Western and Islamic civilizations has sustained for over a millenia
ever since the founding of Islam — from the Crusades in the 11th to 13th centuries, to the
rise of the Ottomans in the 14th to 17th centuries, to the rise of Western Europe in the
19th and early 20th centuries, followed by Arab nationalism and then Islamic
fundamentalism after WW II, and finally the military interventions of the West in the
Middle East in recent times