Clash of civilizations script

What Huntington thinks * in his hypothesis he thinks that today’s world has actually come to a period where the age of ideology or economically has ended. * Instead he says that the primary source of conflict between nations and humankind will be cultural and religious. That nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations ad even groups of different civilizations * Huntington also suggested that the main reason of world politics tend to be conflict between western and non-western civilizations

Why civilizations will clash * differences based on history, language, region, religion, tradition and culture are more fundamental and stable that other differences between people. And these fundamental differences are product of centuries so they will not disappear anytime soon * The world is becoming a ‘smaller’ place and as a result interactions across the world are increasing which intensifies ‘civilization consciousness’ and the awareness of differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations * Due to economic modernization and social change, people are separated from longstanding local identities. Instead, religion has replaced this gap, which provides a basis for identity and commitment that transcends national boundaries and unites civilizations. * The growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by the dual role of the West. On the one hand, the West is at a peak of power. At the same time, a return-to-the-roots phenomenon is occurring among non-Western civilizations. A West at the peak of its power confronts non-Western countries that increasingly have the desire, the will and the resources to shape the world in non-Western ways. * Cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones. * Economic regionalism is increasing. Successful economic regionalism will reinforce civilization-consciousness. Economic regionalism may succeed only when it is rooted in a common civilization.

Criticism * I personally think that Huntington’s thinking in terms of bloc is quite incompatible with today’s world. In his hypothesis, he sees the world divided up into power blocs the West(Europe and USA, the Islamic world, Latin America and so on. It is strange according to his system Latin America doesn’t belong to the west and Sunnite and Shiite Muslims don’t make up a single unit. Also, in today’s interconnected world even rival nations such as the us and china heavily depend on each other * My second point is that the bloodiest battles take place within civilizations and not between them. For example Africans killing Africans in Congo, Muslims killing Muslims in Egypt and the civil war in Syria that claimed more victims than the US invasion of Iraq * My last point is that Huntington might have underestimated the hegemony of states over civilizations. Goverments shamlessly exploit religious sensibilities but their interests are elsewhere. Countries participate in globalization, they compete for food, water, raw materials, weapons, investment and trade. What I am trying to say is that I don’t think religion is the main reason why civilizations clash