Critically evaluate Samuel Huntington’s claims in “The Clash of Civilizations?” Essay

The abrupt end of the crisp War meant that the bipolar model of thinking which had dominated the sphere of being regime for decades became obsolete. This new phase light-emitting diode to a renewal in thinking in the study of International Relations dubbed the atomic number 6 schools of thought which conduct to a unembellishedhanded spectrum of visions ab prohibited the uncertain future of arena personal business. One of the more than than prominent visions was the juvenile Professor Samuel Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations? published in a 1993 Foreign personal matters article, where he predicted a growing frame of conflict based on differences in pagan, religious and historical identity of entities he labelled cultivations instead of the ideologic differences of the nippy War Era. Huntingtons thesis was a Realist response to Fukuyamas 1992 book, The End of record and the Last Man. Fukuyama argued that the post-1991 conception was left with no viable ideologica l alternative to liberal body politic and the free market parsimoniousness predicting a new era of globular consensus on democracy, justice, human rights and cooperation.The nation go forth continue to be a central pole of identification, even if more and more nations come to deal out common sparing and political draws of organization. i Huntingtons inaugurate was that The great divisions among humankind and the dominating point of reference of conflict will be heathen. earth states will remain as the close to powerful actors in manhood affairs but the principal conflicts of global authorities will occur between nations and groups of distinguishable civilizations.ii The controversial nature of Huntingtons thesis ensured the stern critique by some of his familiar spirit academics for reasons including oversimplification, neglecting contradicting factors and inaccurate predictions. The tragedy of 9/11 and the events that followed revived the boldness in his thesis by his supporters who saying this as the conformation of Huntingtons predictions notably the inconsolable clash between Islam and the West.Huntington begins by describing the historical evolution of the nature of conflicts in the western sandwich World from the competition between monarchs and emperors for territorial and mercantile expansion tip to the emergence of nation states beginning with the french mutation, to the rise of ideological conflict after(prenominal) the Bolshevik Revolutioniii. His Eurocentric bias is dupe early as he quotes and perpetuates an bringing close together put forward before by William Lind that these were primarily westerly Civil Wars.Labelling World War II, the deadliest military conflict in autobiography which involved the majority of the worlds nations, as much(prenominal) greatly diminishes the involvement and sacrifices made by masses across the world. Notably the Soviet br oppositehood which was mainly composed of nations Huntington would attentiveness as part of a Slavic-Orthodox civilization keep up the highest amount of casualties totalling at around xxvii millioniv.Later in the paragraph, Huntington writes masss and governments of non-Western civilizations no agelong remain the objects of history as targets of Western colonialism but join the West as movers of history as if to suggest that events occurring in non-western parts of the world somehow do not constitute as history if they dont involve or shit a felt proceeds upon Western society.Although the leadership of the West in fields much(prenominal) as science, applied science and engineering for the larger part in recent centuries is indisputable Jewish philosophy, Hindoo mathematics, Muslim astronomy and engineering contributed importantly to the foundations of what we know straight off and this shouldnt be undermined. The sharing and borrowing of ideas between the diametric corners of the world through the millennias thats still going on t oday suggests a long-term cooperation instead of a clash of civilizations in our common chase of knowledge.According to Huntington a civilization is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identityv. He divides the worlds population into seven civilizations as wellhead as hinting at the possibility of a Caribbean and an African civilization Africa being therefore a continent known for its ample diversity of cultures and traditionsvi. He defines a civilization by what he calls nonsubjective elements such(prenominal) as language, history and primarily worship as well as by the subjective self-identification of people.Huntington argues the onset of globalization has led to increased levels of interaction between peoples of different civilizations, which in spring up intensifies civilization instinct and brings to the forefront their cultural differences which unlike ideological and political differences are fundamental and ofttimes little m utable and hence less easily compromised. Its clear that people instinctively let on themselves closely to separates who share common traditions, customs and history I hold the belief however that Huntington downplays the perceptiveness of globalization and focuses on nonpareil prospect of its possible consequences.Its not the differences that ram down cultural conflict between peoples its the lack of understanding which in turn creates prejudices and fears. The increased interactions between peoples leave led to a wider acceptance of and fascination with other cultures, helping us understand wherefore impertinent societies live the way they do. Huntington argues Russians cannot croak Estonians and Azeris cannot become Armenianvii. An Estonian living in Russia will cod aspects of Russian culture depending on ones willingness, length of stay and the purpose to which one feels alienated or true by Russian society.Thus the objective elements invoked are not convincingly a uthorised in determining ones identity an Englishman whitethorn choose to transmute to Islam while a Chinese citizen in Shanghai may choose to set French as a pastime. globalization in itself has penetrated the long-standing limitations in global slew of the past politicians ever increasingly start to consider the global implications of domestic policy. much than ever national states around the world are dependent upon each other the United States Demands Chinese goods while chinaware needs the US to buy its goods.Huntington ascribes ideas such as constitutionalism, human rights, the rule of law, free markets and democracy as Western ineffectual to gain a foothold in other civilizations. He writes Modern elective government originated in the West. When it has developed in non-western societies it has usually been the harvest-tide of the western colonialism or impositionviii. suggesting that somehow peoples of other civilizations may not be able to suffer or see the benefit s of a form of democratic governance.The people of India would point out that democratic government was formed in their country despite, not because of the Westix. Today more than two-thirds of the worlds governments operate in some form of democracy, which reaffirms the idea that democracy is a universal value, contradicting Huntingtons absorb of its general Western exclusivity. If asked, most Middle-Easterners would choose the idea of a democratic to magisterial governancex the limitation of democratic development in the region however is a product of the unstable and incompatible political embellish rather than the irreconcilability of the culture.Defining the religious aspects of the Western Civilization, Huntington justifies the grouping of Protestant and Catholic Christians into a single entity by emphasizing overlap experiences in European history such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution which in turn separates them from the Orthodox Christ ians beyond Central Europexi. Although it is evident that the closer propinquity of those events has influenced Protestants and Catholics more than their Orthodox counterparts, the closer analogy of Catholic and Orthodox practices and beliefs as unconnected to Protestants is however neglected.Huntington consistently appeals to religion as the primary source of cultural identity, justly so, to a Christian the creeds of their religion have a profound influence on their world view and thus how they would identify themselves. When speaking of the Islamic civilization however, Huntington doesnt seem to make the effort to check between the major denominations of Shia, Sunni and Sufism which have so strongly influenced the historical and especially catamenia political landscape of the Middle-East.In a passionate attempt to warn his fellow Americans of the potential threats that their country may panorama in the post-Cold War environment, Huntington essentially perpetuated ideas that we re perilous and self-fulfilling. The existence of a Confucian-Islamic connection that may threaten the West described by Huntingtonxii is yet to be empirically verified, as the Chinese and US economies remain inter-linked and enliven Obama moves towards a policy of dialogue in the Middle-East. Given the history of US remote policy, legislators would have found Huntingtons simulacrum easy to understand and convenient in terms of implementation.A worldview of distrust towards foreign powers that demands the maintaining of military superiority in the flesh of security panders to the powerful military industrial complex in the US. In order of magnitude to maintain peace, global stability and have any hopes of dealing with transnational issues such as global warming, policy makers should regard all nations as members of the world friendship and work closer with international organizations such as the UN and WTO in establishing universal laws. The hallucination and coercion of oth er governments will and then create an atmosphere of antagonism and hostility.