Critically evaluate Samuel Huntington’s claims

critically evaluate Samuel Huntingtons claims in The collide with of culturedizations? The abrupt end of the Cold contend meant that the bipolar model of thinking which had dominated the domain of a function of World Politics for decades became obsolete. This new sort conduct to a renewal in thinking in the study of solid ground(prenominal) Relations dubbed the hundred schools of thought which led to a wide spectrum of visions about the timid future of world affairs. One of the much prominent visions was the late Professor Samuel Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations? published in a 1993 ForeignAffairs article, where he predicted a growing pattern of ap storeyment based on differences in cultural, unearthly and historical identity of entities he label acculturations instead of the ideological differences of the Cold state of war Era. Huntingtons thesis was a Realist response to Fukuyamas 1992 book, The finish up of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama argued that the p ost-1991 world was go away with no vi adequate to(p) ideological utility(a) to lib date of referencel res publica and the free food market economy predicting a new era of global consensus on democracy, Justice, human rights and cooperation. The ground allow ontinue to be a commutation pole of identification, even if more than and more nations come to sh atomic number 18 common economical and semipolitical forms of organization. i Huntingtons premise was that The enceinte divisions among humankind and the dominating source of encounter will be cultural.Nation states will extend as the most powerful actors in world affairs but the nous bouts of global politics will return mingled with nations and groups of opposite subtletys. ii The moot record of Huntingtons thesis ensured the stern revue by some of his fellow academics for reasons ncluding oversimplification, neglecting contradicting factors and wrong predictions. The tragedy of 9/1 1 and the events that follo wed revived the confidence in his thesis by his supporters who saw this as the conformity of Huntingtons predictions notably the inconsolable clash in the midst of Islam and the west.Huntington begins by describing the historical evolution of the nature of betrothals in the horse opera World from the competitor surrounded by monarchs and emperors for territorial and mercantile intricacy leading to the emergence of nation states first with the French change, to the rise of ideological conflict after the Bolshevik Revolutioniii. His Eurocentric diagonal is expire early as he quotes and perpetuates an idea put forward in the first place by William Lind that these were originally Hesperian Civil Wars.Labelling World War II, the deadliest military conflict in recital which involved the volume of the worlds nations, as much(prenominal) greatly diminishes the exp matchlessntiation and sacrifices made by people across the world. Notably the Soviet Union which was chiefl y composed of nations Huntington would take as farewell of a Slavic-orthodox civilization sustained the highest issue forth of casualties totalling at around twenty- heptad millioniv.Later in the paragraph, Huntington writes peoples and governments of non-western civilizations no longer remain the objects of taradiddle as targets of Western colonialism but gather the West as movers of fib as if to suggest that events occurring in non-western parts of the world somehow do not establish as history if they dont involve or beat a felt force out upon Western society.Although the leadership of the West in fields such(prenominal) as science, technology and engineering for the larger part in recent centuries is indisputable Jewish philosophy, Hindi mathematics, Muslim astronomy and engineering contributed importantly to he engraftations of what we know today and this shouldnt be undermined. The sharing and borrowing of ideas between the different corners of the world through the millennias thats still leaving on today suggests a long cooperation instead of a clash of civilizations in our common pursuit of knowledge.According to Huntington a civilization is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identityv. He divides the worlds population into seven civilizations as well as hinting at the possibility of a Caribbean and an African ivilization Africa be thusly a continent cognize for its vast diversity of cultures and traditionsvi. He defines a civilization by what he calls aim elements such as language, history and primarily religion as well as by the subjective self-identification of people.Huntington argues the onset of globalization has led to increase levels of interaction between peoples of different civilizations, which in turn intensifies civilization consciousness and brings to the forefront their cultural differences which dissimilar ideological and political differences are unsounded and much less mutabl e nd hence less easily compromised. Its clear that people instinctively notice themselves nigh to opposites who share common traditions, customs and history I hold the belief even so that Huntington downplays the penetration of globalization and focuses on 1 aspect of its possible consequences.Its not the differences that aspire cultural conflict between peoples its the wishing of understanding which in turn creates prejudices and fears. The increased interactions between peoples subscribe to led to a wider acceptance of and fascination with other cultures, fortune us understand why strange societies live the way they do. Huntington argues Russians cannot bugger off Estonians and Azeris cannot become ArmenianVii. An Estonian living in Russia will absorb aspects of Russian culture depending on ones willingness, length of stay and the extent to which one feels alienated or accepted by Russian society.Thus the objective elements invoked are not convincingly definitive in fi nd out ones identity an Englishman may choose to transpose to Islam while a Chinese citizen in Shanghai may choose to construe French as a pastime. globalization in itself has penetrated the long-standing limitations in global handle of the past politicians constantly ncreasingly have to deem the global implications of domestic policy. More than ever national states around the world are dependent upon each other the unite States Demands Chinese goods while China of necessity the US to buy its goods.Huntington ascribes ideas such as constitutionalism, human rights, the rule of law, tree markets and democracy as Western unable to growth a tootnold in other civilizations. He writes Modern classless government originated in the West. When it has developed in non-western societies it has usually been the increase of the western colonialism or impositionViii. uggesting that somehow peoples of other civilizations may not be able to sustain or see the benefits of a form of democra tic governance.The people of India would point out that democratic government was organise in their sylvan despite, not because of the Westix. right away more than two- thirds of the worlds governments operate in some form of democracy, which reaffirms the idea that democracy is a universal value, contradicting Huntingtons view of its general Western exclusivity. If asked, most Middle-Easterners would prefer the idea of a democratic to authoritarian governancex the limitation of democratic evelopment in the region however is a product of the unstable and incompatible political landscape rather than the irreconcilability of the culture.Defining the religious aspects of the Western Civilization, Huntington Justifies the grouping of Protestant and Catholic Christians into a single entity by emphasizing overlap experiences in European history such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution which in turn separates them from the Orthodox Christians beyond Cent ral Europexi. Although it is evident that the closer propinquity of those events has influenced Protestants and Catholics more than their Orthodox ounterparts, the closer similarity of Catholic and Orthodox practices and beliefs as contrasted to Protestants is however neglected.Huntington consistently appeals to religion as the primary source of cultural identity, justly so, to a Christian the creeds of their religion have a profound influence on their world view and thus how they would identify themselves. When speaking of the Islamic civilization however, Huntington doesnt take care to make the effort to differentiate between the major denominations of Shia, Sunni and Sufism which have so strongly influenced the historical and especially current political landscape of the Middle-East.In a passionate go about to warn his fellow Americans of the potential threats that their country may face in the post-Cold War environment, Huntington essentially perpetuated ideas that were dan gerous and self-fulfilling. The existence of a Confucian-Islamic connection that may threaten the West described by Huntingtonxii is yet to be empirically verified, as the Chinese and US economies remain inter-linked and Barrack Obama moves towards a policy of dialogue in the Middle-East. Given the history of US unconnected policy, legislators would have found Huntingtons paradigm easy to understand and expedient in terms of implementation.A worldview of distrust towards foreign powers that demands the maintaining of military superiority in the hit of security panders to the powerful military industrial complex in the US. In piece to maintain peace, global stability and have any hopes of dealing with transnational issues such as global warming, policy makers should regard all nations as members of the world fellowship and work closer with international organizations such as the UN and WTO in establishing universal laws. The hallucination and coercion of other governments will indeed create an atmosphere of antagonism and hostility.