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Summary of clash of civilization by huntington
Critics of the clash of civilization thesis, as proposed by Samuel P. Huntington
Summary of clash of civilization by huntington
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The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington interprets contemporary and projected conflicts, implying that the clash of civilizations will create the sustenance for all conflict to follow. He advocates that prior warfare and conflict advance from the work of monarchies, to the stuff of nation states, to the result of ideological differences. In conclusion, Huntington predicts that civilization divisions and misunderstandings will encourage all debates to come. Furthermore into his argument, Huntington explains what attributes constitute a civilization. He proposes that civilizations share basic commonalities that have been established over time, and are unlikely to change quickly. These include history, language, religion, and customs plus other basic characteristics that all members of that division strongly identify with. Civilizations could be large or small, and could overlap creating sub-civilizations. The broadest level of identification that one identifies with is a civilization, and as individuals reformulate their values and identities, then civilizations adapt and shift. Once Huntington completed his analysis of civilizations, he proceeds into his explanation of his claim that civilization identity will be more important in the future because of the interactions that will unfold between the major civilization participants, and that there are various reasons that a clash is imminent. The first reason is that the differences in views amongst these groups are on an integral level. They consist of basic questions, such as what the relationships are between man and God, individual and group, and parent and child. Additionally, the interactions between these civilizations are increasing rapidly, therefore causing ... ... middle of paper ... ...ter positioned to Westernize than others, and the Confucian and Islamic groups are among those that are less likely to embrace Western culture. Essentially, these groups have established a connection with each other, constructing a significant challenge to Western interests through their alliance and increased weaponization. As the West, de-weaponizes, this civilization rallying may flare up in some of the most intense conflict to come. As Huntington outlines, the indications of civilization-consciousness are countless and sophisticated, and serve to further differentiate groups rather than bring them together. This evaluation may prove useful when acknowledged in relation to the civilization exclusivity idea, as it not only recommends that civilizations are unable to truly understand one another, but that the results of different opinions are sometimes volatile.
Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize Winning, National Best Selling book Guns, Germs and Steel, summarizes his book by saying the following: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." Guns, Germs and Steel is historical literature that documents Jared Diamond's views on how the world as we know it developed. However, is his thesis that environmental factors contribute so greatly to the development of society and culture valid? Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History is the textbook used for this class and it poses several different accounts of how society and culture developed that differ from Diamond's claims. However, neither Diamond nor Traditions are incorrect. Each poses varying, yet true, accounts of the same historical events. Each text chose to analyze history in a different manner. Not without flaws, Jared Diamond makes many claims throughout his work, and provides numerous examples and evidence to support his theories. In this essay, I will summarize Jared Diamond's accounts of world history and evolution of culture, and compare and contrast it with what I have learned using the textbook for this class.
Stearns, Harold E. Civilization in the United States. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1922.
Huntington’s argument rests on the assumption that the world is consolidating along regional and cultural lines, which make up each civilization, and would become the driving force of conflict*. He divided the world into seven major civilizations, such as Western, Islamic, orthodox to name a few. Each civilization will act independently or with the west depending on their preference*. Take China, for instance, who integrated capitalism with authoritarian governance. Huntington argues that as China grows they will seek to gain hegemonic influence over Asia, which will become a source of conflict, as the West seeks to maintain global dominance*. Similarly, he argues that his thesis
Bernard Lewis (1916- Present) was the one who initially coined the term, ‘clash of civilizations,’ in his influential article “Roots of Muslim Rage: Why So Many Muslims Deeply Resent the West, and Why Their Bitterness Will Not Be Easily Mollified,” published in The Atlantic Monthly, September 1990. This article appeared after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of identifying the new enemy of the United States of America.
... expanded successfully in peace. On the other hand, the Western religions have a very violent and bloody past during their growth and expansion. As mention by Cason and Tillman “A defining theme that runs through the history of all three Western religions is that they arose out of conflict.” And still to this day they are in conflict.
The aim of Samuel P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” was to provide an academic framework to understand almost all of the conflicts that had broken out since the end of the twentieth century, to include predicting the appearance of future conflicts. According to Huntington, there will be a clash of civilizations since the world has been in an unreasonable era since the end of the Cold War and the position of the nation-state has not been of any significance. Far more than the political objectives of territorial take-overs, it is the religious element of culture that has become the main cause of conflict. It should be acknowledged that Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” is a relatively simple theory which focuses on illuminating the ins and outs of international politics. Samuel P. Huntington’s article played a prominent role in establishing today’s international relations field by defining culture and religion as the main culprit of today’s international conflicts. However, in order to validate such a standard lies within the capability to describe and interpret the real world and motivate people to seek how this theory allows one to understand current conflicts.
In Marshall G. S. Hodgson’s article, The Interrelations of Societies in History, the idea of our egocentrism influencing our perception and education of history is more deeply explored and analyzed. The piece outlines how history primarily focuses on Western Civilization, although in reality the studies are usually only on European states. It argues that large scale history should be studied not as individual areas that are separate in nature, but through the interrelations throughout these societies in world history. In other words, that the achievements, declines, successes, and failures of all world societies through history have been connected to one another in some way, and it is impossible to understand a time period without understanding first the connections of societies. Hodgson makes this argument through two main points, first there is critiques of the current models of studying world history for their lack of interrelational studies. Second, he presents his own method of tracing large scale history by comparing societies involved in history. The Interrelations of Societies in History presents a theory on the faults with
Throughout history, Western civilization has been an emerging force behind change in foreign societies. This is the concept that is discussed in the article the West Unique, Not Universal, written by Samuel Huntington. The author makes a very clear thesis sentence and uses a variety of evidence to support it. This article has a strong very convincing point. The thoughts expressed in this article can be related to a lot of events throughout history.
Historians have constantly debated the definition of a civilization. The word civilization comes from the Latin word civis, meaning citizen. A civilization demonstrates human advancement through agricultural surplus and specialized occupations. Civilizations generate opportunities for humans to progress and reach its paramount potential. When historians study early human civilizations, they attempt to determine if it was truly complex enough to be deemed a civilization. The Eight Traits of civilization are accepted to delineate a civilization. More specifically, the eight traits of civilizations are cities, a form of systematic government, specialization, social classes, technology, religion, and infrastructure. A firm case of five traits suffices for a society to be named a civilization. Çatal Höyük was located in modern-day Turkey near the volcano of Mount Hasan and a channel of the Çarşamba River. It existed between 7000-5000 BCE. Based off of observations made by archaeologists we can infer that Çatal Höyük was not a civilization but
In Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit's book, Occidentalism: The West in the eyes of the East, they set out to solve the fueling force that drives the "enemies" of America and the Western world. This hatred spans back to the times of industrialization in the east, causing hatred to erupt from the peoples of Asian nationalities, and continues up to present day with Al-Qaeda and the terrorist attacks.
Robert D. Kaplan’s article “The Coming Anarchy," is best summarized by the following quote, which identifies the different factors that he evaluates throughout his article, “To understand the events of the next fifty years, then, one must understand environmental scarcity, cultural and racial clash, geographic destiny, and the transformation of war.” (Kaplan, 1994) This is the framework that he uses to make his supporting arguments and thus this summary will be broken down into these four main parts.
A civilization is compiled of eight features. 1. Cities 2. Well-Organized Central Government 3. Complex Religions 4. Job Specialization 5. Social Classes 6. Arts and Architecture 7. Public Works 8. Writings
Stearns, Peter N. et al. World Civilization: The Global Experience. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Longman, 2011. Print.
Huntington stated that the world, in fact, had resumed back to its normal state, which he had characterized as a cultural clash. He had also challenged the idea of free market and capitalism to ensure economic growth. This would result in a great cultural clash between these two civilizations. But the effects of such clang would be lesser in magnitude, according to the author’s point of view.
For thousands of years, people all over the world have developed, progressed, and eventually formed civilizations. A civilization is a community characterized by elements such as a system of writing, a development of social classes, and cities. Early civilizations such as ancient Greece, classical Rome, Mesopotamia, and classical China have made many contributions to society that still affect people in the modern world. The inventions, progress, and contributions of the people of these ancient civilizations and others have shaped the world that we all live in today.