The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
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The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order is an expansion of the 1993 Foreign Affairs article written by Samuel Huntington that hypothesized a new post-Cold War world order. Prior to the end of the Cold War, societies were divided by ideological differences, such as the struggle between democracy and communism. Huntington's main thesis argues, "The most important distinctions among peoples are [no longer] ideological, political, or economic. They are cultural" (21). New patterns of conflict will occur along the boundaries of different cultures and patterns of cohesion will be found within the cultural boundaries.
Part One: A World of Civilizations
To begin his argument, Huntington refutes past paradigms that have
been ineffective in explaining or predicting the reality of the global
political order. "We need a map," Huntington says, "that both
portrays reality and simplifies reality in a way that best serves our
purposes" (31). Huntington develops a new "Civilization
paradigm" to create a new understanding of the post-Cold War order, and to
fill the gaps of the already existing paradigms. To begin with, Huntington
divides the world into eight "major" civilizations:
- Sinic: the common culture of
China and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Includes Vietnam and
Korea.
- Japanese: Japanese culture as
distinctively different from the rest of Asia.
- Hindu: identified as the core
Indian civilization.
- Islamic: Originating on the
Arabian Peninsula, spread across North Africa, Iberian Peninsula and
Central Asia. Arab, Turkic, Persian and Malay are among the many distinct
subdivisions within Islam.
- Orthodox: centered in Russia.
Separate from Western Christendom.
- Western: centered in Europe and
North America.
- Latin American: Central and South
American countries with a past of a corporatist, authoritarian culture.
Majority of countries are of a Catholic majority.
- Africa: while the continent lacks
a sense of a pan-African identity, Huntington claims that Africans are
also increasingly developing a sense of African Identity.
Following the explanations of the separate civilizations in the
new paradigm, Huntington describes the relations among civilizations. Before
1500 A.D., civilizations were separated geographically and the spread of ideas
and technology took centuries. Huntington argues that research and technology
are the catalyst for civilization creation and development. By 1500 A.D.,
evolution in ocean navigation by Western cultures led to rapid expansion and
eventual domination of ideas, values, and religion.
Twentieth century relations among civilizations have moved beyond
the unidirectional influence of the west on the rest. Instead,
"multidirectional interactions among all civilization" has been
maintained (53). In other words, cultural influence is interdependent; western
civilizations influence and are influenced by smaller, less powerful
civilizations around the world.
Huntington then refutes the idea of a Western cultural hegemony
and the concept of an established universal civilization. He states that
"global communications are dominated by the West" and is "a
major source of the resentment and hostility of non-Western peoples against the
West" (59). The notion of a single, universal culture is not helpful
creating an explanation or a description of global political order. However, Huntington
also argues that as modernization increases cross-cultural communication, the
similarities among cultures also increase. The key to this chapter is
Huntington's severance of modernization from Westernization. While the world is
becoming more modern, it is simultaneously becoming less Western, an idea he
expands upon in part two of the book.
Part Two: The Shifting Balance of Civilizations
Huntington starts this section by arguing that Western power and
influence is fading. There are contrasting views on the West's hold on power.
One side argues that the West sill has a monopoly on technological research and
development, military strength, and economic consumption. The other side argues
that the relative power and influence of Western countries is declining.
Huntington adopts the latter view and describes three characteristics of the
Western decline:
- The current Western decline is
a very slow process and is not an immediate threat to World powers today.
- Decline of power does not occur
in a straight line; it may reverse, speed up, or pause.
- The power of a state is
controlled and influenced by the behavior and decisions of those holding
power.
Also in this section, Huntington asserts the increased role and
importance of religion in world politics. Religion is the societal factor that
has filled the vacuum created by a loss of political ideology. Major religions
around the world "experienced new surges in commitment, relevance and
practice by erstwhile casual believers" (96). Huntington goes on to say
that replacing politics with religion was also the result of increased
communication among societies and cultures. People "need new sources of
identity, new forms of stable community, and new sets of moral precepts to
provide them with a sense of meaning and purpose" (97). Religion is able
to meet these needs.
Chapter five, Economics, Demography and the Challenger
Civilizations, discusses the relative rise in power and influence of
non-Western countries. Huntington specifically focuses on Japan, the Four
Tigers (Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore), and China as countries,
which asserted cultural relevance through economic successes. "Asian
societies are decreasingly responsive to United States demands and interests
and [are] increasingly able to resist pressure from the U.S. or other Western
countries" (104). The ability of Asian countries to successfully modernize
and develop economically without adopting western values supports Huntington's
assertion that the world is becoming more modernized, but less Westernized.
Muslim societies, unlike Asian societies, have asserted cultural
identity through the reaffirmation and resurgence of religion. Huntington
argues that the resurgence of Islam "embodies the acceptance of modernity,
rejection of Western culture, and the recommitment to Islam as the guide to
life in the modern world" (110). Religion is the primary factor that distinguishes
Muslim politics and society from other countries. Huntington also argues that
the failure of state economies, the large young population, and the
authoritarian style of governance have all contributed to the resurgence of
Islam in society.
Part III: The Emerging Order of Civilizations
During the Cold War, the bipolar world order enabled countries to
identify themselves as either aligned or non-aligned. In the post-Cold War
world order, countries are no longer able to easily categorize themselves and
have entered into an identity crisis. To cope with this crisis, countries
started "rallying to those [cultures] with similar ancestry, religion,
language, values, and institutions and distance themselves from those with
different ones" (126). Regional organizations have formed that reflect
political and economic alliances. These include Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU) and the North American Fair Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). Huntington also describes the idea of "torn countries,"
or countries that have yet to entirely claim or create an identity. These
countries include Russia, Turkey, Mexico, and Australia.
Huntington discusses the new structure of civilizations as
centered around a small number of powerful core states. "Culture
commonality legitimates the leadership and order-imposing role of the core
states for both member state and core external powers and institutions"
(156). Examples of core states are France and Germany for the EU. Their sphere
of influence ends where Western Christendom ends. In other words, civilizations
are strictly bound to religious affiliation. Huntington argues that the Islamic
civilization, which he identified earlier in the book, lacks a core state and
is the factor that disallows these societies to successfully develop and
modernize. The remainder of this section goes into great detail to explain the
different divisions of core states throughout the world.
Part IV: Clashes of Civilizations
Huntington predicts and describes the great clashes that will
occur among civilizations. First, he anticipates a coalition or cooperation
between Islamic and Sinic cultures to work against a common enemy, the West.
Three issues that separate the West from the rest are identified by Huntington
as:
- The West's ability to maintain
military superiority through the nonproliferation of emerging powers.
- The promotion of Western
political values such as human rights and democracy.
- The Restriction of non-Western
immigrants and refugees into Western societies.
Non-Western countries see all three aspects as the Western
countries attempt to enforce and maintain their status as the cultural
hegemony.
In the chapter The Global Politics of Civilizations,
Huntington predicts the conflict between Islam and the West to be a "small,
fault line war," and the conflict between the America and China having the
potential to be an "intercivilizational war of core states" (207).
Islam and the West
Huntington goes into a brief historical explanation of the
conflictual nature of Islam and Christianity and then lists five factors that
have exacerbated conflict between the two religions in the late twentieth
century. These factors are:
- the Muslim population growth
has generated large numbers of unemployed and dissatisfied youth that
become recruits to Islamic causes,
- the recent resurgence of Islam
has given Muslims a reaffirmation of the relevance of Islam compared to
other religions,
- the West's attempt to
universalize values and institutions, and maintain military superiority
has generated intense resentment within Muslim communities,
- without the common threat of
communism, the West and Islam now perceive each other as enemies, and
- increased communication and
interaction between Islam and the West has exaggerated the perceived
differences between the two societies (211).
Asia, China, and America
Economic development in Asia and China has resulted in an
antagonistic relationship with America. As discussed in previous sections,
economic success in Asia and China has created an increased sense of cultural
relevancy. Huntington predicts that the combination of economic success of the
East Asian countries and the heightened military power of China could result in
a major world conflict. This conflict would be intensified even more by
alignments between Islamic and Sinic civilizations. The end of chapter nine
provides a detailed diagram (The Global Politics of Civilizations: Emerging
Alliances) which helps explain the complexity of the political relationships in
the post-Cold War era (245).
Huntington defines the Soviet-Afghan war and the First Gulf War as
the emergence of civilization wars. Huntington interprets the Afghan War as a
civilization war because it was seen as the first successful resistance to a
foreign power, which boosted the self-confidence, and power of many fighters in
the Islamic world. The war also "left behind an uneasy coalition of
Islamic organizations intent on promoting Islam against all non-Muslim
forces" (247). In other words, the war created a generation of fighters
that perceived the West to be a major threat to their way of life.
The First Gulf War was a Muslim conflict in which the West
intervened; the war was widely opposed by non-Westerners and widely supported
by Westerners. Huntington states that "Islamic fundamentalist
groups denounced [the war] as a war against 'Islam
and its civilization' by an alliance of 'Crusaders and Zionists' and proclaimed
their backing of Iraq in the face of 'military and economic aggression against
its people" (249). The war was interpreted as a war of us vs. them; Islam
v. Christianity.
To better understand the definition of the fault line between
civilizations, Huntington provides a description of characteristics and
dynamics of fault line conflicts. They can be described by the following:
- Communal conflicts between
states or groups from different civilizations
- Almost always between people of
different religions
- Prolonged duration
- Violent in nature
- Identity wars (us vs. them),
eventually breaks down to religious identity
- Encouraged and financed by
Diaspora communities
- Violence rarely ends
permanently
- Propensity for peace is
increased with third party intervention
Part V: The Future of Civilizations
In the concluding sections of his book, Huntington discusses the
challengers of the West, and whether or not external and internal challenges
will erode the West's power. External challenges include the emerging cultural
identities in the non-Western world. Internal challenges include the erosion of
principle values, morals, and beliefs within Western culture. He also
contributes to the debate between multiculturalists and monoculturalists and
states that, "A multicultural world is unavoidable because global empire
is impossible. The preservation of the United States and the West requires the
renewal of Western identity" (318). The ability for the West to remain a
global political power, it needs to adapt to increasing power and influence of
different civilizations. Without adapting, the West is destined to decline in
power and influence, or it will clash with other powerful civilizations.
According to Huntington, the West clashing with another civilization is "the
greatest threat to world peace, and an international order" (321).
Summary written by Hollie Hendrikson,
Conflict Research Consortium
access through http://www.beyondintractability.org/bksum/huntington-clash
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