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The Clash of Civilizations (His general structure of civilizations is: (He…
The Clash of Civilizations
Written by Samuel P. Huntington
Director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University
The article is product of the Olin Institute's project on "The Changing Security Environment and American National Interests".
The author shows the system of global politics in the world after the cold war
He stats that cultures and the common identity of people who live them are what shape the patterns of conflict
He refers that after the end of the Cold War, when the main "capitalism v.s. communism conflict" ended; countries stoped focusing on defining weather they were at the side of the U.S or of the U.S.S.R, but in their own cultures and what it meant to be themselves.
He says that with the end of the Cold War, Americans and soviets stoped to be the only "protagonists" in the world and now there was a variety of major powers and civilizations interacting internationally.
According to Huntington, the major civilizations now are:
Western
Orthodox
Buddhist
Islamic
Hindu
African
Latin American
Sinic
Japanese
He remarks the interest that specially the U.S maintained in "westernizing" the rest of the world.
Huntington expresses that the west should admit that they will not succeed if they keep trying to "universalize" their culture all around the world.
Within this idea, the autor remarks that when a nation modernizes or becomes industrialized, it doesn't necessary means that they will adopt the western culture or join it.
Huntington remarks the "pulled apart status" that the eastern (non-western) civilizations are put in by the western ones.
He stats that, as an aftermath of modernization, religion has resurged in a certain way in the Islamic World.
This is because in the modern world, people leave their family structures to work in the city, in industrial jobs, which causes certain lost of identity, and the society found religion a great alternative to build a new identity.
He stats that this is not good, because it threatens the stability of the muslim world, because leaders try to make everything more theocratic, and make use of these to persuade people to see in favor of their own interests, convincing between them, young people to act violently to defend "their religious cause".
He also talks about the demographic growth of the referred societies, which make them stronger and more capable of influencing international politics, adding that they have the confidence and strength to promote their culture.
The autor also says that in Eastern Asia the factors that brought power and influence are economic growth and industrialization, as in the case of China.
Finally, he argues that now that they have enough demographic, religious and/or economical strength, these non-western civilizations are now focusing in their own culture and rejecting the west.
His general structure of civilizations is:
Core states, which are the strongest and most influential members of the culture.
Member states, that have their alienation with a certain culture very clear.
Culturally isolated countries, or lone countries.
Cleft countries, the ones that include more than one influential cultural group.
Countries which began in one civilization, but tried to change to another one, or torn countries
He stats that similar cultures help each other in international affairs.
He argues that cultures that are different are prone to have conflict between them.
Huntington makes emphasis in that shifting from one culture to another is harder nowadays, because cultural identities are now more strongly defined.
He says that the international politics are now realigning to work with all the different civilizations; and now the "protagonists" in world affairs are the principal states of each civilization.
He says argues that the west's desire of dominating the world is the motor of the conflicts with China and the Islamic cultures.
The strength and confidence that the Islam and China have gained cultural, religiously and economically allows them to put a stop when it comes to accepting western dominance.
Because of this, the west will have to be more clever when intervening in the issues that creat conflict with these civilizations, such as human rights, militarization or migration.
The actor's prediction is that the west won't be able to influence these issues anymore, and it will have to focus on taking care of its own culture, now respecting the limits of the other civilization.
Huntington says that the west should just accept its culture as a unique between others one and try to protect it from non-western influence, instead of trying to make it universal.
He also argues that the U.S should stop embracing multiculturalism as it does now, because by keep doing that, it will lose its identity as western nation and turn to total cultural mix.
His idea is that by embracing multicivilizationalism the world can keep its cultural diversity, have a state of respect and avoid having conflicts between the major civilizations.
Name: Rubén Darío Fuentes Zavala
ID: A01067142
Class: Globalization and its Challenges
Date: AUG/13/18