Clash of Civilizations

[Anonymouse]

With America bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq, deficit soaring, deaths amassing, economy faltering, it is imperative to step back and observe the bigger picture. This is an old article by Samuel Huntington which is very long, in depth, and covers a wide range of history, politics, and economics, with regard to civilizations, their development and the world. In the end, the main point to draw from it is that, the quest to "spread democracy" and "defeat terrorism" are unattainable because Huntington concludes that the nature of the two civilizations are different, and part of the problem of why the U.S. hasn't succeeded so far is due to this inability of Americans to take notice of this.

http://www.alamut.com/subj/economics/misc/clash.html

[D3ADSY]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

Sorry for thread necromancy, but it's the lesser of two evils.

After reading this article I am left troubled. I've read Edward Said's "Clash of Ignorance" article because I am looking for arguments that try to refute Huntington's theory, but the "Clash of Ignorance" article left me unconvinced. A part of me also feels US foreign policy is fuelling the polarization and "us against them" trends.
I am currently reading and looking for articles with differing viewpoints, but having also read "This Century" by Steven LaTulippe after Huntington's, the outlook seems gloomy. And I say that not because the theories are alarmist, I don't believe they are, but because you can already see them playing out.
I hope others reply to this thread, I'm interested in reading more opinions on the matter.

[Anonymouse]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

Sorry for thread necromancy, but it's the lesser of two evils.

After reading this article I am left troubled. I've read Edward Said's "Clash of Ignorance" article because I am looking for arguments that try to refute Huntington's theory, but the "Clash of Ignorance" article left me unconvinced. A part of me also feels US foreign policy is fuelling the polarization and "us against them" trends.
I am currently reading and looking for articles with differing viewpoints, but having also read "This Century" by Steven LaTulippe after Huntington's, the outlook seems gloomy. And I say that not because the theories are alarmist, I don't believe they are, but because you can already see them playing out.
I hope others reply to this thread, I'm interested in reading more opinions on the matter.

Did you see that I had previously posted LaTulippe's article here?

Anyway, before I used to be skeptical of Huntington's treatise even though I had read it, but for some reason as time went, and I went back to read the great macrohistoric work by Carroll Quigley titled "Tragedy and Hope", as well as "This Century", and following the news of what is going on, I cannot help but agree with Huntington, whose piece is so prescient.

I have read the arguments against this and many of the reviews on Amazon of Huntington's book offer some of the garden variety disagreements. I nonetheless remain unconvinced by them and I think they take an extremely childish view of the world.

[D3ADSY]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

Yes, it was because of your thread that I came across it in the first place.

I have read the arguments against this and many of the reviews on Amazon of Huntington's book offer some of the garden variety disagreements. I nonetheless remain unconvinced by them and I think they take an extremely childish view of the world.

Some argue the same thing about Huntington, that he takes a childish or simplistic view. Perhaps there is some truth to such arguments, that despite the detail and depth of "Clash of Civilizations" he has a simplistic view of some fundamental issues. Perhaps. Although Huntington seems to have been correct about many things, I am not truly convinced as to the reasons behind them, hence my comment. I really have to re-read anyway, either the article or by purchasing the book.
Also, the question of where Armenia is in all this occurred to me.

[Կարմիր Բ]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

There's no such thing as a ''Clash of Civilizations''. This thesis is supported by both the Americans and the Islamic fundamentalists since such a ''clash'' would polarize the people into two camps, which is exactly what they both want, because the fear and and the ideological polarization would be make them easier to be controled.

[D3ADSY]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

There's no such thing as a ''Clash of Civilizations''. This thesis is supported by both the Americans and the Islamic fundamentalists since such a ''clash'' would polarize the people into two camps, which is exactly what they both want, because the fear and and the ideological polarization would be make them easier to be controled.

But this then means that there is indeed a "Clash of Civilizations", it's just artificial in a sense.

The BBC documentary "The Power of Nightmares" deals with issuse such as this, it's an enlightening 3 hours for anyone who makes the effort to watch it.

[karoaper]

Re: Clash of Civilizations

There's no such thing as a ''Clash of Civilizations''. This thesis is supported by both the Americans and the Islamic fundamentalists since such a ''clash'' would polarize the people into two camps, which is exactly what they both want, because the fear and and the ideological polarization would be make them easier to be controled.

I agree there may not be some global clash, but there's certainly a regional clash that can go on for a very long time, in fact that longevity of distrust and hatred past some specific events is what I'd characterize as a clash. As an example, the Crusaders certainly caused a major rift in the area that sawed the seeds of distrust, between Western and Eastern people, Christians and Muslim for a long time. Same with Ottomans, their divisions, manipulations and crimes are at the root of problems between Serbs and Bosnians, Turks and EveryoneElse, Armenians and Azeris, Georgians and Abkhasians, etc. Finally, Israel's and America's hegemony (a term used by many commentators that describes the situation well) in the Middle East has caused a clash between Christians and Muslims (ex: Armenian churches bombed in Iraq for the first time since being founded probably). In a clash, it makes no difference who at a certain moment commited what crimes, what matters to me is what who and what introduced the rift and put in the first ingredients of long lasting and commonly irrational and overgeneralizing distrust and hatred.