The clash of civilizations

The Clash of Civilizations?COURSE: CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENTPROFESSOR: JOÃO TEODÓSIOSTUDENTS: CHRISTOS MITRAKAS, ODYSSEAS CHLORIDIS

About the article

Author: Samuel Phillips Huntington

Published in: Foreign Affairs, New York

Publicity date: Summer 1993

"The Clash of Civilizations?“ was expanded to book length and published as "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order in 1996“

About the author American nationality

Was the White House Coordinator of Security Planning

Began teaching at Harvard University at age 23

Other noteworthy papers1. Political Order in Changing Societies2. The Third Wave3. Who Are We and immigration

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Political Order in Changing Societies was a critique of the modernization theory which had affected much U.S. policy regarding the developing world.

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The Third Wave. The book starts with an arguement on Portugal's Revolution during 1974 and describes the third wave of democritization. He won an award for that.

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Who are we and immigration. This is his last book, published in 2004. It describes the meaning of American national identity and the possible cultural threat posed to it by large-scale Latino immigration, which Huntington warns could "divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages".

The article’s main points

The next pattern of conflict The nature of civilizations Why civilizations will clash? The fault lines between civilizations Civilization Rallying: The Kin-Country Syndrome The West VS the Rest The torn countries The Confucian-Islamic connections Implications for the West

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The article has 9 Chapters

The next pattern of conflictThe evolution of human conflict

Princes and monarchs expanding their territories

Wars between nations from the French Revolution until the 1st World War.

Conflict between ideologies

A new world era after the end of the Cold War.

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We will start talking about the first topic that of the article now.

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Firstly between communism, Nazism and liberal democracy and after a point between liberal democracy and then between communism in the Soviet Union and liberal capitalism in the USA

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After the end of the Cold War the centerpiece (of attention) in international politics becomes the interactions and conflicts between the West and non-Western civilizations

The next pattern of conflictThe new world era

In the politics of civilizations, the people and governments of non-Western civilizations no longer remain the objects of history as targets of Western colonialism but step up to the play to join the West as movers and shapers of history.

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So, this is very important because non-Western civilizations become more and more active and powerfull as time goes by thus creating conflicts between the West

The nature of civilizations

The highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have is a civilization. Thus a civilization is a cultural entity.

Culture is:

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Acquired by people throughout the genereations.

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These elements are the product of centuries and are unlikely to change, they are rooted deep within a person and play a huge role on who he is.

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Let's move to the next chapter now: The nature of civilizations

The nature of civilizationsSo a civilization can be…

All of these elements

Or only one

It can be huge

Or it can be really small

…They rise and fall and as history tells us they disappear and get buried in the sands of time

Why civilizations will clash8 main civilizations

Western Confucian Japanese Islamic Hindu Slavic Orthodox Latin American African

Why civilizations will clash6 main reasons

These civilizations have differences and these differences can easily produce conflicts

Globalization Weakening of the nation state as a term of self-identification and

the replace of this id by religion. De-Westernization Which side are you on? and What are you? The increase of economic regionalism

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Due to globalization interaction, between different people of different civilizations are increasing and thus it is becoming more obvious for more civilizations across the world that there are major differences between them

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Religion can make people fanatic as seen many times throughout history

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In many cases especially in the Middle East, we see the failure of the West civilization to implicate its ideas on the non-Western World and thus terms like terms like Asianization in Japan, Hinduization in India and re-Islamization come to life with the most recent example being that of ISIS. This thing can really bring tension between the West and the Non-West Civilizations!

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It is way easier for people to change the answer to the first question than the last one thus cultural characteristics and differences are less easily changed than political and economic ones. Especially religion.

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There is a big increase at intraregional trade the trade between a countries states. Examples The European Community, the North America Free Trade Area between Mexican, American and Canadian cultures while the East Asia economical center is developing with China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. This creates economic rivarlries between the economical centers that can lead to conflicts.

Why civilizations will clash2 main battlefronts

Micro Level: Adjacent groups along the fault lines between civilizations struggle, often violently, over the control of territory with each other

Macro Level: States from different civilizations compete for relative military, and economic power, and competitively promote their political and religious values

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A recent example is that of Ukraine and Russia 2 countries next to each other with the city of Crimea

The fault lines between civilizations

The political and economical boundaries of the Cold War got replaced from the fault lines between civilizations

The West became more dependent on the Persian Gulf countries for its energy

In the Arab World the attempts of the Westerners to influence them have caused anti-Western political forces

The underlying differences between China and the United States have reasserted themselves in areas such as human rights, trade and weapons proliferation.

The cultural difference between Japan and USA and racism between also causes economic and cultural conflict

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As a result the ideological division of Europe disappeared but the cultural division of Europe has reemerged

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This may be a passing phenomenon, but it surely complicates relations between the isllamic countries and the West

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These differences are likely to moderate a new cold war between China and America.

Civilization Rallying: The kin-country syndrome

The "kin-country" syndrome, is replacing political ideology and traditional balance of power considerations as the principal basis for cooperation and coalitions.


While only a few Muslim governments overtly supported Saddam Hussein, many Arab elites privately cheered him on, and he was highly popular among large sections of the Arab publics. Islamic fundamentalist movements universally supported Iraq rather than the Western-backed governments of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Forswearing Arab nationalism, Saddam Hussein explicitly invoked an Islamic appeal. He and his supporters attempted to define the war as a war between civilizations.


In 199I and 1992 many people were alarmed by the possibility of violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine over territory, particularly Crimea, the Black Sea fleet, nuclear weapons and economic issues. If civilization is what counts, however, the likelihood of violence between Ukrainians and Russians should be low.

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We all saw though what happened in Ukraine last year so you never know what will happen in the Clash of Civilizations

The West Versus the RestWhat makes the West so powerfull?

Western military power unrivaled

Military conflict between Western states is unthinkable

Enormous economic growth

U.N. Council an the IMF reflect the Interests of the West presenting them as the interest of the ‘World Community’.

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Especially the IMF is highly critised in Greece for bringing tremendous austerity measures to our country.

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The West is using international institutions, military power and economic resources to run the world in ways that will maintain Western dominance and promote its interests.

The West Versus the RestDifferences between the West and the Rest

Military, economic and institutional power disputes

On a cultural level: The basic ideas of Western Civilization on topics like democracy, law, liberty, human rights don’t seem to have any value on the rest of the world.

The West Versus the Rest3 types of reaction to the West by Non-Western civilizations

Isolation

‘’Band-wagoning’’

Balance

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At one extreme, non-Western states can isolate themselves like North Korea, to 'protect' their societies from penetration or "corruption" by the West. The costs of this course, however, are high, and few states have pursued it exclusively.

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Is to attempt to join the West and accept its values and institutions.

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The third alternative is to attempt to "balance" the West by developing economic and military power, while preserving a civilizations values. In short, to modernize but not to Westernize, only Japan has managed to do this with success.

The torn countriesWhat are they?

The leaders of these countries typically wish to pursue a band-wagoning strategy and make their countries members of the West, but the history, culture and traditions of their countries are non-Western.

The torn countries

Turkey

Mexico

Russia

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A modern example is Turkey and the efforts made by its leaders to join the EU. They are trying to project Turkey as a Western country but many parts of its cultural elements disagree and want to keep the traditional East Muslim society. The real reason, as President Ozal said, "is that we are Muslim and they are Christian and they don't say that."

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A similar ‘torn’ country is Mexico. It has left behind its old opposition with America and wants to join the North American Free Trade Area. Mexico’s leaders are taking measures to redefine its identity by its society seems to resist and want to keep the Latino American portrait of the country.

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The most important torn country is Russia. Russian elites and public seem to constantly have different opinions about this topic. Some elites want Russia closer to the West while other especially nationalists want it to abandon the West and be more East-focused. The same goes for the public as a 1992 revealed that 40 percent of the public had positive attitudes toward the West and 36 percent had negative attitudes.

The torn countries3 pillars for a country to redefine its civilizational Identity

Its political and economic elite has to be generally supportive of and enthusiastic about this move

Its public has to be willing to make the redefinition

The dominant groups in the recipient civilization have to be willing to embrace the convert

All three parts exist in Mexico, the first two in Turkey and its still unsure if any exist in Russia.

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Maybe none as we can see today

The Confucian-Islamic Connection

De-Westernized countries forge connections between them to help them defend themselves against the Western World

Rise of military power from the Confucian-Islamic countries and the reduction of it in Western countries.

We now see China, Pakistan, Israel, India, North Korea, Iran and Iraq trying to modernize their military equipment and exchanging military parts between them.

A Confucian-Islamic military connection has thus come into being, designed to promote acquisition by its members of the weapons and weapons technologies needed to counter the military power of the West

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The attention of the West focuses, naturally, on nations that are actually or potentially hostile to the West. The non-Western nations, on the other hand, assert their right to acquire and to deploy whatever weapons they think necessary for their security as a reaction to West’s huge military power.

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We can make 4 basic assumptions from the confucian-islamic connection we read about in the article

Implications for the WestA look into the Future

Conflicts between groups in different civilizations will be more frequent, more sustained and more violent

Violent conflicts between groups in different civilizations are the most likely and most dangerous source of escalation that could lead to global wars

For the relevant future, there will be no universal civilization, but instead a world of different civilizations, each of which will have to learn to coexist with the others.

Implications for the WestA look into the Future of The West

Limit the expansion of the military strength of Confucian-Islamic states and moderate the reduction of Western military capabilities

Exploit differences and conflicts among Confucian and Islamic civilizations

Greater cooperation and unity within its own civilization, particularly between its European and North American components

To incorporate into it societies in Eastern Europe and Latin America whose cultures are close to those of the West

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This is very important if the West wants to survive from the upcoming threats that it has to face

Implications for the WestA look into the Future of The West

Develop a more understanding attitude towards other civilizations

To support in other civilizations groups sympathetic to Western values and interests

Implications for the WestA look into the Future of The non-West

Non-Western civilizations are attempting to become modern without becoming Western.

Non-Western civilizations will continue to attempt to acquire the wealth, technology, skills, machines and weapons that are part of being modern

Their economic and military strength relative to the West will increase.

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Only Japan has made this happen so far

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Hence the West will increasingly have to accommodate these non-Western modern civilizations and be tolerant about them.

Points of Criticism

The prediction about Ukraine and Russia was wrong. The international politics are more complicated than anyone can expect.

More meaningful to measure a country’s progress by its civilization and culture. How is possible to measure that?

How it’s all about a Clash of Civilizations when it is made clear in the article that the conflict between the West and Islamic states are about weapons, wealth, energy and territorial control?

Food for thought

There is truly a clash of civilizations or it is just the greediness and the economic-political interests of our ‘leaders’ that make us fight each other?

What’s the future of mankind?

Globalization makes things worst or better?

Food for thought

We share the same planet, so if we take in account the definition about culture given by the article: A civilization is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have, we might as well all belong on the same civilization. So maybe it’s about time we start seeing each other as ‘Earthians’, not just nations and civilizations

Date post:	08-Jan-2017
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The clash of civilizations

News & Politics