“The Clash of
Civilizations”
2006 TO TODAY
@LIKH@N
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The Hypothesis
(1)
World politics is entering a new phase in the wake of the end of
the Cold War
(2)
The “fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be
primarily ideological or primarily economic.
(3)
The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source
of conflict will be Religious Cultural identities ”.
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Conflict in Modern History
Conflict in the modern era, for Huntington, has
been largely a sequence of;
(a) conflicts between princes (what we will study
as the “Westphalia system”), then
(b) conflicts between nation-states (after the
French revolution), then
(c) conflicts between ideologies (during the Cold
War)
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Underlying Assumptions
Huntington is reproducing what we might call a ‘neo-Hegelian’ view of
history (history as unfolding through conflict)
Assumes that the end of the Cold War is a defining moment in history,
“a tipping point”
Assumes that civilizations are fairly fixed over time
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The Contemporary Era
For Huntington, this means that international politics, hitherto, was in a
western phase; non-western civilizations were the objects of history, the
targets of western colonialism.
In the post-Cold War, they “join the West as the movers and shapers of
history”.
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Civilizations and History
In this view, contemporary civilizations represent the product of a long
process of ‘identity formation’
Identity Crisis/will produce inevitable conflict between different
civilizations
Read in this fashion, the “clash of civilizations” represents the closing of
a parenthesis in world history.
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What is a Civilization?
Three attributes: objective, subjective, and dynamic.
(1)
Objective elements include language, history, religion, customs,
institutions
(2)
Subjective elements include variable levels of self-identification
(3)
Civilizations are dynamic; they rise and fall, divide and merge
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What is a civilization?
Largest entity with which person can identify short of humanity
Defined by common ancestry, values, language, and/or religion
Major civilizations
◦ Sinic/Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, Western, Slavic-Orthodox, Islam
◦ Latin America and Africa candidates for civilization
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Civilizations, based on
Huntington's "Clash of
Civilizations".
Western
 Hispanidad/Latin American
 Japanese
 Sinic
 Hindu
 Islamic
 Orthodox
 African
 Buddhist
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Why will civilizations clash?
(1) Differences between civilizations are more
fundamental and enduring than ideological or
political differences.
(2) Interactions between civilizations are increasing.
(3) Economic modernization and social change are
separating people from longstanding identities;
they weaken the nation-state as a source of
identity.
(4) The rest of the world is increasingly willing to
define itself in non-Western ways.
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(continued)
(5)
Cultural characteristics are less alterable and less easily
compromised than political and economic ones.
(6)
Economic regionalism is increasing, which will increase “civilization
consciousness”.
(7)
Common culture, Huntington argues, may be a prerequisite for
economic integration.
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The Two Levels of the Clash
At the micro level, groups clash along the “fault lines” of adjacent
civilizations
At the macro level, states from different civilizations compete for
political and economic power.
Conflict manifests itself in two forms: fault line conflicts and core state
conflicts.
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Core state and fault line
conflicts
Fault line conflicts are on a local level and occur between
adjacent states belonging to different civilizations or within states
that are home to populations from different civilizations.
Core state conflicts are on a global level between the major states
of different civilizations. Core state conflicts can arise out of fault
line conflicts when core states become involved.
These conflicts may result from a number of causes, such as:
◦ relative influence or power (military or economic), discrimination against
people from a different civilization,
◦ intervention to protect kinsmen in a different civilization, or different
values and culture, particularly when one civilization attempts to impose
its values on people of a different civilization.
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The “kin-country syndrome”
Groups or states becoming involved in a war with groups or states from
another civilization will attempt to rally other groups or states from
their own civilization behind their cause.
Examples may be, the Gulf War, the former Soviet Union in the
Caucasus, and Yugoslavia.
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The West versus the Rest?
Talk of “the world community” and the “free
world” is, according to Huntington, a thin veneer
for the domination of global affairs by western
interests.
The West sees its values as universalist (meaning
that they are applicable to everyone, irrespective of
civilization).
International institutions based on these values are
merely tools for maintaining and promoting
western values and domination.
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Torn countries?
Some countries are torn over which civilization their country belongs to
(Russia, Mexico, Turkey). They can redefine their identity on three
conditions;
(1)
A supportive elite
(2)
Acquiescent masses
(3)
Willingness from the dominant civilization
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The Biggest Challenge to the
West?
The biggest challenge to the West will come from an emerging
Confucian-Islamic connection, primarily concentrated around the
asserted right to develop and deploy NBC weapons (counter to the
western value of non-proliferation).
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Implications
Nation-states may not disappear, singular
civilizations will not become the norm. But;
(1) Civilization-consciousness is increasing and will
become the dominant source of conflict
(2) The west will need to strengthen its own
civilization to meet the challenge
(3) The West will need to better understand other
civilizations and seek to define areas of
potential co-existence
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Huntington’s Argument
Traditional sources of state conflict moving back
◦ Territory, economic benefits, ideology
Politics of identity replacing politics of interest
Main competing groups no longer states, classes or ideologies but
civilizations
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Responces
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Relations among Civilizations Changing
No longer defined by Western influence on other civilizations
West declining
◦ economic slowdown, population decline, internal decay, loss of identity
Sinic and Islamic civilizations mounting
◦ Economic success of Asia
◦ Demographic explosion in Islamic world
Balance of power shifting
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Why Civilizations Will Clash
Difference real and basic
World smaller due to globalization
Nation-state as source of identity weaker
Fundamentalist religion stronger
Backlash against West enhances civilization
consciousness
Economic regionalism growing
Western policies make worse the relations
◦ Non-proliferation, human rights, immigration, others
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It will not happen
Civilization identities not only identities
Nation states will not disappear
Civilizations not coherent or conflict-free
Differences among civilizations is real
Civilization-consciousness growing
Civilization conflict will be dominant global form of
conflict
Major axis of relations between “West and Rest”
No universal civilization possible
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Other Post-Cold War Views
 One Harmonious World
 triumph of liberal democracy, end of major power warfare,
interdependence and peace
 Two Worlds: Us and Them
 North-South; rich-poor, Have have not
 193 States – The Realist View
 State system dominates global relations
 Sheer Chaos
 Kaplan’s “Coming Anarchy
 the world would ever get to Utopia. The new struggles were no longer neatly ideological, but
cultural and historical
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In brief, the clash of civilisations is an inevitable matter. It existed in the
past, exists now and will remain until the clash ends shortly before the
Hour, since it does not come except upon the worst of creation.
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Reasons
This struggle between the Western civilisation and Islamic
civilisation is manifested in many styles including:
1. Dominance over the media apparatus and directing them for
the benefit of the Capitalist civilisation.
2. Dominance over the education syllabi at all its levels in order to
spread the Western concepts, distort and fight some of the
concepts of Islamic civilisation and forge the history of Muslims.
3. Establishing schools and universities directly supervised by
Westerners.
4. Setting up parties that adopt Western civilisation and call for it,
and which are protected by the West and its moderate
progressive friends.
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Cont….
5. Sponsoring those whom they call the elite, educated and intellectuals,
focusing light upon them and promoting them, so that they become the
leaders of thought in the countries of the Islamic world.
6. Funding the educational scholarships and courses in their various
types, to choose those suitable to become their intellectual or political
agents, or agents i.e. spies.
7. Founding institutions, clubs and centres specialised in spreading
their poison, and spending generously upon them.
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Concluding Remarks
 Some Events Challenge it
 Unclear how to distinguish civilizations
 Globalization can lead to convergence and synthesis of cultures
 Not all cultures aspire to imperial power
 Overstates West’s decline
 Exaggerates Islam’s militancy
 Major conflicts within civilizations
 Economic cooperation across civilizations
 Lack of democratic institutions is real problem in Islamic world
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It is not a Clash of Civilization
It is Conflict of Interests:
Economic, Political, Military
Conflict may be in the name of
Culture
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Western universalism—that is, the view that all civilizations should
adopt Western values—that infuriate Islamic fundamentalists.
The political party Hizb ut-Tahrir also reiterate Huntington's views in
their published book, The Inevitability of Clash of Civilisation
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