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Clash of Civilizations

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. Huntington’s Argument.

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Clash of Civilizations

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  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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

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