Chapter 8: Modernization and
development theory
Is there a clash of civilizations?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Learning aims:
Understanding
the myth “there
is a clash of
civilizations”
Understanding
its relationship
with theories of
modernization
and
development
Seeing how this
myth functions
in international
politics through
events like 9/11
Critically
interrogating
the way it
conceptualizes
“identity” as a
stable category
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Last week: NeoMarxism
Myth: “Empire is the new world order”
Key concepts: Truth, ontology and desire
Hardt and Negri’s myth is enabled by a “selective
memory” of postmodernism. We do not have to
view resistance as coherent for it to be
meaningful.
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Modernization and development Flashcard
Key thinkers:
Samuel P.
Huntington
Key concepts:
Gabriel Almond
& Bingham
Powell
Identity
Desire
Culture
Myth: There is a clash of
civilizations
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Huntington’s “clash of civilizations”
1. What are civilizations?
• Common objective elements (language, history, religion, customs,
institutions)
• Subjective self identification – what you think your are (Italian, catholic,
European, Westerner) – but not the same as states!
2. How are civilizations “mapped” onto the world?
• 7 or 8 (Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox,
Latin American and possibly also African?
• These are not justified by Huntington, but taken as a given
3. Why will they be in conflict?
• Because they have been historically and because ideological struggles of
Cold War cannot subdue civilizations struggle in post-Cold War era
• The main fault lines will be between Western Christianity and Islam and
between Islam and every other
civilization
© 2014
Cynthia Weber
Structural-functional model (figure 8.1)
Domestic environment
Inputs
State functions
(political
demands)
(interest groups,
parties, bureaucracies,
legislature, executive,
courts)
International environment
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Outputs
(policies)
Political development timeline
(figure 8.2)
Third World
states
Developing
states
First World
states
(traditional)
(modernizing)
(modern)
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Assumptions of political development
(table 8.1)
Assumptions of political development (table 8.1)
General assumptions
Assumptions Huntington rejects
1. Change and development are
easy
2. All good things go together
2. All good things go together
3. Radicalism and revolution are
bad
4. Distributing power is more
important than accumulating
power (Packenham, 1973)
4. Distributing power is more
important than accumulating
power
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Theory activity: ‘Class of Civilizations’
Aim: To think critically about the notion that identities are stable as a
means to interrogate the ‘clash of civilizations’ myth.
• As a full group, go around the room and ‘map’ identities. Note your
‘identities’ (in no particular order) (5 min.).
• Think about stability across time and space and note this in the table.
• Then discuss the following questions (5 min.):
– Which of these identities would ‘clash’ in Huntington’s myth?
– What do these ‘identities’ tell us about the nature of ‘identities’
themselves?
– If we cannot assume stable categories of identities, what does this do to
Huntington’s myth of the ‘clash of civilizations’?
Identity
Stability across time?
Stability across place?
Cultural, religious, social,
sexual, racial etc.
Yes/no
Yes/no
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
How East is East makes sense of the
world (box 8.1)
1. George/Islam and Ella/Western
Christianity clash over their bi-cultural
children who represent the fault lines
between these civilizations
Or
2. The Khan children do not represent
the fault lines between Western
Christianity and Islam but foreshadow
the multicultural Britain emerging in the
postcolonial era
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
The family in East is East
The parents:
• George (dad)
• Ella (mum)
The kids:
• Young Sajid cocoons himself from the struggles facing his elder siblings with his parka and
his age
• Meenah is a tomboy
• Saleem is an art student passing as an engineering student to his father but “out” to his
mother
• Maneer, who his siblings have nicknamed Gandhi, follows Islamic traditions more closely
than the others, although even he took part in the opening Catholic procession
• Tariq is the clubber who fancies himself a bit of a playboy and certainly not a “Paki”
• Abdul is the most independent of the children remaining at home, negotiating racism in
the workplace and attempting to respect his mother and his father at home so he can
hold onto his family
• And Nazir, who refused to marry in the first scene, turns up later in the film as a gay
hairdresser working in his boyfriend's fancy salon
© 2014 Cynthia Wber
What is typical and deviant in the
world of East is East? (table 8.2)
Typical
Deviant
For George’s values and
Ella’s values to
respectfully coexist
within the Khan family
(even if in this patriarchal
1970s household, Ella’s
values and the children’s
respect for them must be
concealed
For George to force his
children to become fully
integrated into his
culture
© 2014 Cynthia Weber
Film activity: The ‘Khan Kids’ in East is
East
Aim: To to reflect on how different the Khan kids are as a
means to critically interrogate the ‘clash of civilizations’.
• In SMALLER GROUPS note down the different
characteristics of the Khan kids (5 min.)
• Think about their differences in dress and appearance,
language, demeanour, desires etc.
• As a WHOLE GROUP, discuss what these differences tell us
about the Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’. Discuss the
following: (5 min.)
– How is it that these children are so different if they come from
the same ‘civilization’?
– Which ‘civilization’ do they come from? Is it one of
Huntington’s 7-8 civilizations?
– How does the film help© 2014
us Cynthia
think
about identities as unstable?
Weber
Next week: Environmentalism
Green
politics
Climate
Change
Film:
WALL-E
Truth
Is human-made climate
change an inconvenient
truth?
© 2014 Cynthia Weber