Clash of Civilizations

For today, I read a long article called the "The Clash of Civilizations?" by Samuel Huntington. The article wasn't long in the sense that it was a difficult read or a slow one, but more so that it made many good points and offered insight into past and present international conflicts.

In his opinion, conflict and change occur due to the interaction of the world's largest civilizations; (i.e. Western, Japanese, Islamic) the cultures so large that they cannot be further broadened. His argument rings true for many large wars including the Cold War, which pitted the liberal Western people against the staunch communist Russians.

One other term that Huntington enjoys using is his concept of "the fault lines between civilizations." He says that older wars were decided on the borders of nations, but now the battles are being fought on the front lines of ideologies, cultures, and ultimately civilizations. This example especially rings true for places like Iraq and his example of Ukraine, where one country can have a number of ideologies and in term any number of (armed or other) conflicts.

With the many conflicts and clashes of different civilizations, a type of blending has taken place over the years. While many regions are able to maintain a visible identity, ideas and influences from other cultures have managed to cross the borders and mix into alternate civilizations. Although he touches on the idea of a "West vs. Rest" mentality of merging cultures, he points out that many civilizations have managed and will continue to manage to coexists and function while knowing they have many differences than other countries, and even other national citizens.


On the whole, I agree with the ideas highlighted in the article. It is clear that civilization mergers and conflicts no longer just mean nation vs nation, but more often ideology vs ideology across a much larger fault line. I also agree with his notion that there won't be one dominant civilization in the foreseeable future, as I feel the need for diversity and the sharing of ideas is important to the global learning community. All in all, this was a good piece about a number of obvious trends all blended (or clashed) together to make a solid point about our cultural past, present, and future.