Civilisational Clashes: Surveying the Fault-Lines

In: Third world quarterly, Band 19, Heft 1, S. 149-152

Abstract

A review essay on a book by Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996). Huntington's analysis of cultural difference as the source of geopolitical conflict is asserted to be a simplistic & unsound appeal to the current popularity of cultural explanations. Further, Huntington's conceptualization of Islam & Asia as intrinsically opaque & threatening to the West is downright dangerous if heeded by US policymakers. Against Huntington, it is argued that the Islamic world is complex & varied, Islamic violence is more about politics & socioeconomic conditions than religion, Islam is usually peaceful, conflicts are more likely to occur within than between civilizations, & the West is currently culturally diverse. E. Blackwell