Critical Analysis Of The Clash Of Civilizations

One of the biggest questions plaguing most political theorist is what will be the source for future conflict in this increasingly globalized world. Samuel Huntington a prominent political scientist in the U.S tried to answer this question in 1996 when he published the “Clash of Civilizations” which discusses the primary source of future global conflicts. In it he mentions religion and cultural differences as being the main source of conflict in the post cold war world. In evaluating Huntington’s theory you must evaluate modern conflicts and global issues of the present and compare them to the ideas held in his theory to see if his beliefs hold up to the substantial weight of the evidence. In critiquing Huntington’s argument you must also be

One of Huntington’s largest weaknesses in his theory is that he religious tensions will began to transcend borders and create havoc amongst the world. Although religious differences can cause problems to arise in different countries, Huntington seems to blow this idea out of proportion and make it seem more serious than what it is. Huntington notices a growing problem between Islamic extremist and Western civilization but at times he seem to generalize this idea to broadly into Islam versus the west. In this depiction he is forgetting that much like any other culture or religion there will always be extremist who not only threaten other societies but that of their own as well. Huntington even go so far as to reference the idea of china possibly allying with Islam and causing problems with the U.S. , but a incident such as this has yet to occur as china has even sided with governments who are against Islamic political rule such as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. According to Merlini one of the more plausible outcomes is “continuity in the international system, with further consolidation rather than rupture”(Merlini 125). This theory has more relevance with what we have seen go on since 1996 when Huntington first published his theory. Although Huntington had many strong points which included noticing the problems produced by radical Islam and the Westernization of much of the Middle East it seems that Huntington might have been a bit hasty in saying how dire the consequences of these actions would be. Huntington ideas although sometimes pessimistic have gained some important followers and like minded people as well. Jeff Haynes a political writer wrote in “Religion and Foreign Policy” that “some nations are more concerned with competition and occasionally conflict in relation to both other religions, and secular