Why Force Will Never Work in Integrating Societies

Societal culture is a system of rules and behavior. Culture is what people believe, how they act and interact, and the way they live.

The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.

(For those who don't know about the Cold War, there are plenty of articles on this.)

Major Civilizations According to Huntington

Huntington divided the world into the "major civilizations" in his thesis as such:

Western civilization, centered on Australasia, Northern America, and Europe (excluding Orthodox Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, but, including Catholic Central and East-Central Europe). Huntington also includes the rest of Oceania. Whether Latin America and the former member states of the Soviet Union are included, or are instead their own separate civilizations, will be an important future consideration for those regions, according to Huntington.

Latin America. Includes Central America (excluding Belize), South America (excluding the Guianas), Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. May be considered a part of Western civilization, though it has slightly distinct social and political structures from Europe and Northern America. Many people of the Southern Cone, however, regard themselves as full members of the Western civilization.

The Orthodox world of the former Soviet Union (excluding the Baltic states, most of Central Asia and Azerbaijan), the former Yugoslavia (excluding Slovenia and Croatia), Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, and Romania.

The Eastern world is the mix of the Buddhist, Sinic, Hindu, and Japonic civilizations.

The Buddhist areas of Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are identified as separate from other civilizations, but Huntington believes that they do not constitute a major civilization in the sense of international affairs.

The Sinic civilization of China, the Koreas, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. This group also includes the Chinese diaspora, especially in relation to Southeast Asia.

Hindu civilization, located chiefly in India, Bhutan and Nepal, and culturally adhered to by the global Indian diaspora.

Japan, considered a hybrid of Chinese civilization and older Altaic patterns.

The Muslim world of the Greater Middle East (excluding Armenia, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malta, and Sudan), northern West Africa, Albania, Bangladesh, Brunei, Comoros, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Maldives.

The civilization of Sub-Saharan Africa located in Southern Africa, Middle Africa (excluding Chad), East Africa (excluding the Horn of Africa, Comoros, Kenya, Mauritius, and Tanzania), Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana,Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Considered as a possible 8th civilization by Huntington.

Instead of belonging to one of the "major" civilizations, Ethiopia and Haiti are labeled as "Lone" countries. Israel could be considered a unique state with its own civilization, Huntington writes, but one which is extremely similar to the West. Huntington also believes that the Anglophone Caribbean, former British colonies in the Caribbean, constitutes a distinct entity.

There are also others which are considered "cleft countries" because they contain large groups of people identifying with separate civilizations. Examples include India ("cleft" between its Hindu majority and large Muslim minority), Ukraine ("cleft" between its Eastern Rite Catholic-dominated western section and itsOrthodox-dominated east), France (cleft between Sub-Saharan African, in the case of French Guiana; and the West), Benin, Chad, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Togo (all cleft between Islam and Sub-Saharan Africa),Guyana and Suriname (cleft between Hindu and Sub-Saharan African), China (cleft between Sinic, Buddhist, in the case of Tibet; and the West, in the case of Hong Kong and Macau), and the Philippines (cleft between Islam, in the case of Mindanao; Sinic, and the West). Sudan was also included as "cleft" between Islam and Sub-Saharan Africa; this division is set to become a formal split in July 2011 following an overwhelming vote for independence by Southern Sudan in a January 2011 referendum.

Culture Clashes Happen Within Societies

Culture clashes happen, not just between countries, but within societies of those countries. This has gone on since the beginning of the human race.

Differences in religion, ethics and world-views were the main factors which lead to the culture clash between the Puritans and the Native Americans. Culture clash destroyed the way of life for the American Indian.

Time and again throughout history when people of different cultures are forced to integrate, one culture ends up either being totally destroyed or marginalized. Examples of this happening include the Roman Empire's demise due, in part, to attempting to assimilate too many different cultures; British colonization in Australia and subsequent destruction and marginalization of Aborigines; and the colonization of America by white settlers, resulting in the destruction and marginalization of the Native American Indian.

As far back as Biblical times, the Jews, according to the Old Testament, were commanded by God not to marry into other cultures. They disobeyed God's command and ended up becoming only a remnant of their once great nation. This commandment to the Jews not to marry foreigners has been misinterpeted as a command not to marry another race. However, the reason God commanded the Jews not to marry into other cultures had nothing to do with race. It was to keep the Jews from marrying those who did not share their faith--a belief in one true God, and the moral laws that the Jews were to live by. Some of the nations around the Jews at that time practiced not only idolatry, but sacrifice of their sons and daughters to other gods.

King Solomon, said to be the wisest man that ever lived, married foreign wives and, in his old age, his wives with their worship of idols, turned his heart away from God.

How to Integrate Societies

So, what is the answer?

The disciples of Christ were taught to go into the cities and teach the people about Christ. If they rejected the teachings, the disciples were to leave those cities and 'shake the dust off their feet.' There was no force and no harrassment involved.

History has shown that force will work for a time in integrating people. But, marginalization and destruction of a defeated civilization's culture creates its own problems.

The only way to successfully integrate different societies is to change people's hearts and minds. The Bible, in the New Testament, gives the best examples of how this was done--but, that's for another article.

(For those interested in learning more about Huntington's theory on the clash of civilization, pick up a copy of his book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, published in 1996.)

Sources:

The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order, Wikipedia, Published 1996

1 Kings 11:1-11, KJV Bible

Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, Google Books, Copyright 1987