Society and religion

Debate on Samul P. Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

 

Samuel P. Huntington Political scientist Born in 1927 NY Attended Yale and Harvard White House Coordinator of Security

Planning for the National Security Council Died at age 81

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order A theory, that people's cultural and religious

identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world

First formulated in a 1992 lecture Article titled "The Clash of Civilizations?” 1996: book - The Clash of Civilizations and

the Remaking of World Order

Overview Francis Fukuyama's

1992 book : The End of History and the Last Man.

… „but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.”

Sinic Japanese Hindu Islamic Orthodox Western Latin-American

The civilizations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clash_of_Civilizations_map2.png

Part I Conflicts in the future along cultural and

religious lines (Palestina, Israel) Global politics is both multipolar and

multicivilizational Civilizations shape our cultural identity We define ourselves in terms of cultures

values and religion

Rivalry of superpowers replaced by the clash of civilizations

Balance of power is shifting Rediscover own values, reject those imposed

on them Drinking Cola and plotting a bomb attack Conflicts based on religion, culture not ideology Religion reinforcing cultural differences

Part II

Religion: central defining characteristics of a civilization

„La revanche de Dieu” Global revival of religion

Organizations based on cultural commonality

Cultural commonalities shape interests Kin country rallying

Part III

Islam and it’s bloody borders Western arrogance + Islamic intolerance Fault line conflicts Core state conflicts Fight between Islam and West is a fight

between Christianity and Islam

Part IV

The west and the rest Survival of West depends on accepting their

civilization as unique and not universal Cooperating to maintain the

multicivilizational character of global politics

Part V: The future

Paul Berman: Conflicts rises because of philosophical

beliefs Edward Said: The clash of ignorance Interaction of cultures is missing False categorization of civilizations Racist: Islam varies from country to country Reinforces stereotypes USA right to intervention

Criticism

Those separated by ideology but united by culture will come together. States with similar cultures will see common interests.

(East and North Korea?, Shi’ta and sunni islamists?)

Religion takes the place of ideology There is no dominent culture: (Germany?) Which part of Huntington’s predicton do

you think has become reality? Do you agree with the critiques?

DebateWhat do you think of the following statements?