THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND THE REMAKING OF WORLD ORDER

[KlatooBNikto]

This is the book written by Samuel Huntington, a Harvard Professor.In this book, the author makes a case for thinking that all future conflicts in the world after the fall of communism will be between civilizations of which he considers the following ones to be major players:Western ( Judeo Christian),Sinic ( Chinese), Islamic,Hindu,African, Latin American, Japanese, Buddhist.His thesis is broken down into the following units:

1.Global politics is now multipolar and multi civilizational. Modernization now has come to mean something different from Westernization.
2.The balance of power among civilizations is shifting.Western civilization is declining in influence while Asian civilizations are on the ascendant.Islam is exploding demographically. Non-Western civilizations are affirming the value of their own cultures.
3.A civilization based world order is emerging.Societies sharing cultural affinities cooperate with each other.
4.The Western World's belief that its core values are universal,e.g. its belief that it can promote Freedom and Democracy, everywhere, is bringing it into conflict with other civilizations,notably Islam and China.
5.The survival of the West depends on accepting that its message is not universal and realizing that the world is multipolar and cooperation between civilizations would be vital to avoid wars.

I found this viewpoint fascinating and have to say that many of its
original premises are being acted out in many theaters, including Iraq,China, Russia, India,Brazil.

One thing that stood out in my mind was that the core states belonging to a certain civilization would form an alliance against another civilization as has happened with India facing off many Muslim nations on the issue of Kashmir. Similarly, it is likely that many Islamic nations will form serious alliances after the Iraq War to ward off similar threats in the future.China and Russia, of course, have started forming an alliance of their own and trying to draw India and Brazil into a group that would unite to stop the Judeo-Christian civilization from gaining dominance.

[barackmyworld]

1. He is one of my professors :)

We had an interesting discussion seminar class on culture and politics.

[Silverhair]

2. Try reading: NonZero - The Logic of Human Destiny

He posits that humanity is learning to cooperate more and more. That in the future, nations and civilizations will know that the path to wealth and influence is by trade, not by war.

Of course, all this is mere academic speculation if Thermal Depolymerization doesn't work and Peak Oil brings it all crashing down.

[Nordic65]

3. Conflict? Yes! A new world order? No way!

Your good Harvard Professor is forgetting the single most important reason the western civilization is were it is today. Unsurpassed aggressiveness, combined with the science/ability to make their intentions sink any opponent.

Not only in military terms either. The western world, ie. the OECD (basically the developed world) is so far ahead of the rest, in terms of social, political and economical development that it's not even funny.

Really, it's just like the doomsayers from the cold war era, believing the soviets to be equal in just about anything. When it was all said and done, they were little more than a hollow lie - arguably with some serious destructive capability, but little to show for in the field of development.

[starroute]

4. Huntington is a fave of the Neocons

That's one good reason not to trust what he says.

In addition, as far as I know wars have always been fought over resources, access to resources, or control of trade routes. Ideology is just a pretext.

Thirdly, when my son is watching Japanese anime, my husband is listening to Pakistani Sufi rock music, and I'm setting time aside every Saturday to catch the Bollywood movie on the cable, I have a lot of trouble believing that civilizations are actually clashing. Not to mention all those yummy Mexican stir-fry recipes I keep running across. Cross-fertilizing is more like it.

Perhaps the fundies are all clashing with each other, but the people with an eye to the modern world know they're all headed in the same direction and are busy swapping tips about how to get there.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Does he place Russia in 'Western'?

I'd say that Japan has, for some time, been more integrated into 'Western' than Russia, politically. Culturally, it's pretty close too.

If those are the choices, can I take 'south pacific islander'? That seems nicely out of the way of the fights.

[mmonk]

6. I say its US

vs EU vs China and rest of the world.