Essay on the Clash of Civilizations Hypothesis by Samuel P. Huntington

The Clash of Civilizations is a hypothesis developed by Samuel Huntington which proposes that the religious and cultural identities of people will be the main reason for conflict in a world that is beyond cold-war. He develops his thoughts through an analysis of the various theories that touch on the issues surrounding the post-cold war period. There were several suggestions by writers and theorists concerning the main alternatives during the period. Many of them suggested matters such as the capitalist free market, liberal democracy, and human rights (Huntington, 2000). Huntington expresses that the era of ideology has come to an end and therefore the world is slowly reverting to what seems normal which is majorly characterized by cultural conflict. His main ideas are on the concept that any conflict that occurs in the future will have its primary axis in cultural conflict and along the lines of culture. He acknowledges the existence of various civilizations. Huntington believes that these civilizations signify the highest level of cultural identity. He expresses that the different civilizations will eventually be a tool for the analysis of the potential of conflict.

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He, however, disputes that he is not advocating for a desire for conflict between civilizations but a predictive guess of how the future may be like. He mainly leans towards religion as the strongest aspect of culture that has a high probability of causing conflict. As he develops his thesis, Huntington comes up with various world civilizations. They include the western civilization that consists of Australia, Oceania, United States, and Canada, western and central Europe. The traditional viewpoint of these areas is with the West Christian culture. He also has Latin America which is made up of Mexico, Cuba, South America, Central America and the Dominican Republic. Huntington also includes the Orthodox world with countries such as Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Here is the eastern world which has Japan, Chinese, Hindu and Buddhist civilizations. There is the Muslim world, Sub-Saharan Africa and what he considers to be cleft countries.

As he develops his ideas around the various civilizations, Huntington explains that the world is probably going to be shaped by the interaction of seven major civilizations in the future. These include Sub-Saharan Africa, orthodox, Confucian, Western, Japanese, Hindu, and Islamic. There is most probable that if any conflict should occur it will be along the cultural lines within these civilizations. Huntington expresses that this is going o be the case due to the differences among these civilizations. According to him, differences are not only real but also essential, and they occur through language, history, tradition, culture and most significantly through religion (Huntington, 2000). According to Huntington, there exist differing views in the various civilizations especially on man relates to God, the relations between an individual and the group, parents and their children and husbands and wives. These people also have varying views on the relative significance of authority and liberty, responsibilities and rights and matters concerning equality and hierarchies. These differences are long standing and have no room for change anytime soon. They have an aspect of fundamentality more than any form of political regimes and ideologies. He goes on further to explain that the presence of differences may not necessarily mean conflict. The existence of conflict may not be an indication of violence. However, the conflicts that may exist among these civilizations are prolonged and characterized by violence.

He further identifies that the world is gradually becoming a small place with interactions among individuals from various civilizations rising steadily. These interactions lead to intensification in the civilization consciousness. As they interact, these people get to identify the differences and commonalities among their civilizations. An example is that the North African immigration cases to France lead to hostility among the Frenchmen but here is an increased reception of the migration by the European Catholics. Furthermore, American express negativity towards investments made by the Japanese, but they are open to large investments from Europe or Canada. Interactions make people aware of the disparities that are present among their civilizations which may result in animosities that are rooted in their history.

The world is experiencing social change and economic modernization which means that people are moving away from their local identities which are long standing. In many instance and civilizations, religion is the aspect that is coming in to fill the gap that remains. It often occurs through movements often known as fundamentalist, and they may include Islam, Buddhism, Western Christianity and Hinduism. In most cases, these groups have active members who are mainly young college-level educated individuals (Huntington, 1993). They are common business persons, technicians or even professionals. Various people identify that the ongoing un-secularization of the world is a current and dominant social fact especially in the twenty-first century. Therefore the present revival of religion as Huntington puts it signifies a basis for commitment and identity which goes beyond the boundaries of a nation and plays a significant role in uniting civilizations.

He goes on to suggest that the conflict between the western and non-western countries presents a central axis in world politics, in particular for the future. There is an already existing conflict between the West and the rest. He believes that non-western civilizations may take various courses of action in response to the western civilization. These include an attempt by the rest to achieve isolation to ensure that they can preserve their values and keep themselves safe from the influence and invasion by the west. He, however, explains that taking this type of action presents enormous costs for the nation and only a few countries have the capacity. Another way is that the rest may try to balance the power of the West, in particular through modernization. These nations may still preserve their values and institutions while still developing military and economic power against the West in conjunction with other non-western civilizations.

Again, Huntington suggests that culture presents a challenging aspect of any civilization that cannot change. He explains that a rich person in America may become poor, or the poor becomes rich but there is no day that an Indian will become a Russian or a Russian becomes an Estonian. In any form of ideological conflict people may be on one side but may change to the other hand, and in such instances, the main question is which side does one choose? On the contrary issues of conflict between civilizations present the question what are you? As it is evident in various states including Sudan, Bosnia or Caucasus the wrong answer to this question may mean that one gets shot. However, religion goes beyond what ethnicity can do. It separates and discriminates people sharply and exclusively. One can be half-French or even half-Mexican but never half-Muslim or half-Christian.

Therefore Huntington expresses strong and eligible ideas concerning the reasons why civilizations around the world may clash. His primary focus remains, or religion with him emphasizing the power religion has in leading to the rise of conflict. He believes that unlike previously when a conflict was as a result of political issues and differences, the current era is different. He emphasizes that any conflict that occurs in the twenty-first century will most probably be on cultural lines.

References

Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations?. Foreign affairs, 22-49.

Huntington, S. P. (2000). The Clash of Civilizations?. In Culture and Politics (pp. 99-118). Palgrave Macmillan US.