Clash of Civilizations

• Focuses on culture and identity • Sees severe limits to interdependence • Samuel Huntington book 1996 – What lay beyond Cold War?

– Globalization + resistance to it – Highly influential and controversial argument 1

Huntington’s Argument

• Traditional sources of state conflict receding – Territory, economic benefits, ideology • Politics of identity replacing politics of interest • Main competing groups no longer states, classes or ideologies but civilizations 2

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 3

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 ascending – Economic success of Asia – Demographic explosion in Islamic world • Balance of power shifting 4

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 exacerbate relations – Non-proliferation, human rights, immigration, others 5

Summary of Argument

• Civilization identities not only identities • Nation states will not disappear • Civilizations not coherent or conflict-free • But differences among civilizations 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 6

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 • 184 States – The Realist View – State system dominates global relations • Sheer Chaos – Kaplan’s “Coming Anarchy 7

Critiques of Clash of Civilizations

• 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 8