While Samuel Huntington’s thesis continues to be influential, the fragilities of the civilization construct within it are exposed when measured against the realities of the last twenty years in Asia.
Examining Huntington’s thesis over the past 20 years, Murshed argues conflict occurs primarily within rather than between states and that these conflicts never evolve in a socio-economic vacuum.
Huntington’s work, although flawed in various respects, perfectly captured the zeitgeist at the end of the Cold War and encapsulated the hopes and fears of globalisation.
Distinguished Professor of International Relations Stephen Chan criticizes current analyses of international developments as being based primarily on western systemic models that steadily impose a cultural monopoly on the field.
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam searches for the theoretical underpinnings of the clash of civilizations. Expanding critical theory to include Islamic philosophy and poetry, this metahistory refuses to treat the Orient and the Occident as separate entities.
It is worth taking a second look at Huntington’s thesis considering the controversial democratisation attempts pursued by the US in the early years of the 21st Century.
Warnings against the political construction of the Self through opposition to a negative-valued, dangerous or threatening Other are common at a time when the discourses of the clash of civilisations have acquired a worryingly prominent place in the public spheres of many different countries. But do we actually need ‘more’ religious and cultural traditions rather than less in order to oppose religiously-inspired political violence?
In the west, China’s rise and increased attention to fundamentalist Islam have caused many to perceive a global contest in the export of values. At this particular crossroads of history there seem to be several very different maps for the future. In this context, many speak of the ‘decline of the west’, but what is it exactly?
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