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Making sense of Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations"

 After 27 years when Samuel P Huntington's article titled "Clash of Civilizations published in the Foreign Affairs magazine, there are people (mostly liberal) who completely refute to acknowledge any cultural clashes, and conservatives who believe in everything that is argued in the article. The truth lies in between, thus I will try to answer objectively in the question-answer format.

Q. What is all about Clash of Civilization?

A. The crux of Huntington's article is that future conflicts will mostly occur on the line of culture and civilization. According to Huntington, "world-politics is entering a new phase" in which "the fundamental source of conflict will "occur between nations and groups of civilizations". 

Q. How many civilizations did Samuel Huntington see in the world?

A. Huntington identifies eight major civilizations in the world:

1. Western 

2. Confucian

3. Japanese

4. Islamic 

5. Hindu

6. Orthodox 

7. Latin American

8. African

Q. How civilization is defined?

A. It's a very broad concept which absorbs religion, language, ethnicity, customs, historical memories, tradition and much more. It remains unclear what exactly is civilization. However, every civilization differs. According to Huntington, nation-states are becoming less important sources of identity for people. 

Q. What is 'Kin-country Syndrome'?

A. Huntington in his article "Clash of Civilizations" argued that civilization conflicts would feature a kin-country syndrome. Members of a common civilization would unite against the opposing civilization. For example, Bin Laden called for Muslims to unite against the western culture led by the US. Recently, Islamic State (ISIS) recruited Muslims from around the world (Europe, America, Middle East, Russia and elsewhere) to fight in Syria and Iraq. 

Q. Is there really any clash of civilizations?

A. It depends upon how you interpret history or present. For example, the American War on Terror can be seen as a fight against terrorism or Western countries crusade on Muslim countries. 

Huntington provided some accounts of this conflict through analyzing conflicts world over. First, when Serbian forces were brutally killing Bosnian Muslims, the western countries remained silent for a very long time before NATO forces intervened. Russia despite knowing the aggressor, helped Slavic Serbia in Bosnia. 

Secondly, Western promotion of universal human rights don't find way in China or Islamic countries. Chinese and Islam unite against the western form of human rights. 

Thirdly, the American dealings with North Korea, Iran and Iraq hints some form of hostility towards Islamic civilization. 

However, these accounts don't provide the complete picture. 

Q. Is Islam not compatible with Western Values?

A. This is a thorny debate and scholars from both sides have their own points of view. The western culture is predominantly based upon democracy, freedom of expression, gender equality and human rights, and religious shadows dance in the background. The Islamic culture also adheres to these values but their interpretation is different from west. Muslims all over the world identifies first with their religion than anything else. 

The rapid pace of globalization and promotion of democracy has many a times put both cultures at the opposing ends. Modern nation-states are basically European construct. Muslim clerics believe that God is supreme, thus people can't greater allegiance to nation-states. Muslims all over the world are united with a common religion and believe in Allah. The western countries try to modernize Middle East countries with forceful democracy but often find resistance as they don't believe in their concept of modernizations. 

One incident, highly publicized occurred in 2005 when a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons satirizing Muhammad. The publication aroused Muslims as Islam forbids depictions of Prophet in any tangible form. On the other hand, western countries termed it as "freedom of speech". 


 

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