Huntington's Clash of Civilizations: Islam and the West

Each of the authors presented in lesson 5 offers some insight into the evolving world order of the 21^st century. Heinrich Kreft, in "Dealing with 'Pre-modern' States," examines the shift from the Cold War environment to the contemporary operating environment that has evolved since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, saying, "On September 11, 2001 cold-war perceptions finally ended as the World Trade Center fell" (Kreft, 2001, p.4). Kreft argues that balances of power among nations are still important, but greater international cooperation will be necessary as nations adjust their way of thinking to deal with the prospect of a long fight against terrorism and the ambiguity of the emerging new world order.

Samuel Huntington, who also recognizes the shift from the Cold War environment dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union but sees the future in less ambiguous terms, theorizes that civilizational consciousness will increase, resulting in a greater amount of conflict between civilizations more so than nation-states because of differences in basic political and moral values. Finally, Richard Rubenstein and Jarle Crocker also address a clear shift in international relations since the end of the Cold War, but propose that there is much more involved than a simple transition from nation-state conflict to civilization-based conflict. Greater forces are at play, according to Rubenstein and Crocker, and the new world scene is much more complicated than Huntington's clashing civilizations theory would have us believe.

Each of the authors mentioned here discusses the changing nature of international relations since the fall of the Soviet Union, and each forces readers to think about the world in a new way that is radically different from the structured bipolar nature of the Cold War era. Gone are the predictable Soviet and American camps based on ideological thoughts and ideas. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the 2001 terrorist attacks ushered in a new era of increasingly complex international relations in which forces larger than simple ideological beliefs carry increasing importance. Huntington's theory of clashing civilizations comes closest to offering a soundly credible explanation for the still-emerging new international environment.

Clashing Civilizations

Huntington offers in his thesis a seemingly logical transition for the post-Cold War world where nation-state dominance gives way to increasing cultural ties in a multipolar world. The traditional struggle for power associated with Soviet and American competing interests now manifests itself along civilizational lines such as African, Muslim, and Western.

Central to Huntington's thesis is what he refers to as "civilizational rallying" by countries culturally associated with one another, nation-states termed "kin countries." According to Huntington, these associations among culturally alike states are taking the place of traditional Cold War ideological alignments as a means for interstate cooperation and alliance.

Huntington's clashing civilizations are perhaps best illustrated by the renewed conflict between Islam and the West. Much of the Islamic world perceives an all-out assault on the religion of Mohammed by western culture, led by the United States and Europe. This perception has been reinforced by consistent western support for Israel (a western-made state in the midst of the lands of Islam), international demands for Iran to cease its nuclear program (led by nations that already possess nuclear technology) and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a global war on terrorism that focuses virtually exclusively on Islamic fundamentalists.

As this conflict continues year after year, an increasing number of Muslims worldwide rally to the defense of this perceived assault on Islam, pressuring their national governments to resist U.S.-led actions in the Middle East and at the United Nations. In response to internal pressures, Muslim governments have increasingly called for the departure of American and western "occupation" forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. This "civilizational rallying" by "kin countries" supports Huntington's assertion that differences more fundamental than ideology exist between Islam and the west and that, in response, Muslims are joining together to oppose the intrusion by the west into Muslim holy lands. Huntington perhaps best explains this when he says, "As people define their identity in ethnic and religious terms, they are likely to see an 'us' versus 'them' relation existing between themselves and people of different ethnicity or religion" (Huntington, 1993).

Missing Ingredients

In proposing his theory of civilizational clash, Huntington could be accused of oversimplifying a very complex environment created as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War between the two camps led by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

One criticism raised by Rubenstein and Crocker is that Huntington ignores with his theory of clashing civilizations the very real divisions that exist within civilizations or cultures and that he does not allow for the possibility of change or evolution within a civilization or culture. In their essay, "Challenging Huntington," Rubenstein and Crocker write, "It seems that Huntington has misunderstood the process of cultural change and value-formation" (Rubenstein & Crocker, 1994).

This refutation of Huntington's theory is reinforced by the bitter division between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims within the civilization or culture Huntington identifies as Islam. The roots of this division run deep and the intra-civilizational conflict within Islam is being conducted with a vicious ferocity within Iraq, where both Sunni and Shi'a are killing each other in a horrific cycle of violence after the former were forced from minority rule following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Along a similar vein, Huntington seems to underestimate the potential for interstate conflict within civilizations. While he acknowledges that such conflicts will in fact occur, Huntington predicts these struggles will be less intense and less likely to expand than inter-civilizational conflicts. Again, using the example of the Shi'a and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, it has been demonstrated quite clearly that the potential for major conflict between states within a given civilization is very real. As the Iraqi Shi'a majority exercises its control of the government and as Iraqi Sunnis are systematically killed and marginalized in state affairs, other Sunni governments in the region, most notably Saudi Arabia, have vowed to enter the conflict on behalf of their Sunni brethren. Such a move would expand the conflict to countries bordering Iraq and would result in interstate conflict within Huntington's civilization of Islam.

Conclusion

Each of the authors presented in this lesson offers some insight into the new world order that has been emerging since the fall of the Soviet Union and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Of these authors, however, Huntington's theory of clashing civilizations offers a credible hypothesis for the transition from the Cold War environment to the contemporary operating environment.

Still, no theory is without its flaws, and Huntington's theory is no exception. He places too much emphasis on civilizations as a whole and does not pay enough attention to the continuing role of nation-states or the possibility that there could be divisions within civilizations, or changes within civilizations, that could make the emerging world order much more complex than "Clash of Civilizations" presents it to be. Still, the theory of clashing civilizations provides a useful framework for looking at emerging trends in the new world order since the fall of the Soviet Union and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Works Cited

Huntington, Samuel P. (1993). The Clash of Civilizations? Retrieved from Defense Strategy Course Lesson 5 on the World Wide Web: https://dde.carlisle.army.mil.

Kreft, Heinrich. (2001). Dealing with "Pre-Modern" States. Retrieved from Defense Strategy Course Lesson 5 on the World Wide Web: https://dde.carlisle.army.mil.

Rubenstein, Richard and Crocker, Jarle. (1994). Challenging Huntington. , Retrieved from Defense Strategy Course Lesson 5 on the World Wide Web: https://dde.carlisle.army.mil.