Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations
● Huntington’s hypothesis: the fundamental source of conflict in the new world will not
be primarily ideological or primarily economic
○ The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict
will be cultural
● The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics
● The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future
The nature of civilizations
● A civilization= the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of
cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other
species
○ It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history,
religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of
people
Why civilizations will clash
● 1. Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, Ianguage, culture,
tradition and, most important, religion
● 2. The interactions between peoples of different civilizations are increasing; these
increasing interactions intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of
differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations
● 3. The processes of economic modernization and social change throughout the world
are separating people from longstanding local identities. They also weaken the nation
state as a source of identity
● 4. Dual role of the West → On the one hand, the West is at a peak of power. At the
same time, however, and perhaps as a result, a return to the roots phenomenon is
occurring among non-Western civilizations
● 5. Cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily
compromised and resolved than political and economic ones
● 6. Economic regionalism is increasing
● So the clash of civilizations occurs at two levels:
○ micro: adjacent groups along the fault lines between civilizations struggle,
often violently, over the control of territory and each other
○ macro: states from different civilizations compete for relative military and
economic power, struggle over the control of international institutions and
third parties, and competitively promote their particular political and religious
values
● Huntington’s hypothesis: the fundamental source of conflict in the new world will not
be primarily ideological or primarily economic
○ The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict
will be cultural
● The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics
● The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future
The nature of civilizations
● A civilization= the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of
cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other
species
○ It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history,
religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of
people
Why civilizations will clash
● 1. Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, Ianguage, culture,
tradition and, most important, religion
● 2. The interactions between peoples of different civilizations are increasing; these
increasing interactions intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of
differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations
● 3. The processes of economic modernization and social change throughout the world
are separating people from longstanding local identities. They also weaken the nation
state as a source of identity
● 4. Dual role of the West → On the one hand, the West is at a peak of power. At the
same time, however, and perhaps as a result, a return to the roots phenomenon is
occurring among non-Western civilizations
● 5. Cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily
compromised and resolved than political and economic ones
● 6. Economic regionalism is increasing
● So the clash of civilizations occurs at two levels:
○ micro: adjacent groups along the fault lines between civilizations struggle,
often violently, over the control of territory and each other
○ macro: states from different civilizations compete for relative military and
economic power, struggle over the control of international institutions and
third parties, and competitively promote their particular political and religious
values
