The clash of civilisation, Huntington

Résumé du document

The clash of Civilisation' by S. Huntington, was first, an article of seventeen pages, published in the journal 'Foreign Affairs', which initiated a controversy among specialists . Even though Huntington had got a lot of flak, he developed this theory in his book bearing the same title, 'The Clash of Civilisation', a phrase that has now become a buzz word. S. Huntington is looking for new guidelines to understand the post Cold War world. In modern days, ideology is not an accurate explanation of global divisions anymore, but of civilisation or culture,as he puts it. It has to be mentioned that this theory was developed in a context where intellectuals were looking for a New World Order, after the fall of the USSR, which disappointed the experts.

Extraits

[...] Especially strong in France after the 2005 riots, the debate over the Republican model and the model of integration is up-to-date in every single European state with a significant Muslim population. Surprisingly enough, this debate has even touched Britain, well- known for the importance it gives to the liberty of faith and cult: a few weeks ago, a school teacher was fired after she refused to take off her full headscarf, provoking a general outcry stirred up by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, G. Brown, after he declared himself deeply against women wearing the full headscarf. In relation, the issue of integration is quite burning. [...]

[...] He also acknowledges there are fault lines within civilisations. However, if we look at the world according to S. Huntington, the criteria to define civilisation are not unified: sometimes he defines an area by its religion as the Hindu, Islamic and Orthodox testifies, however sometimes he uses geographic criteria such as Western, Japanese or Latin America. It is therefore difficult to understand what are his criteria to create such areas: for instance, if the Western area is based on a shared ideology, it is quite ironic that Greece was not included into this area whereas it is the cradle of Western civilisation. [...]

[...] At a time when the religious practice has plummeted in Europe, how to explain the success of Islam? As the Time (August 2006) highlights, Islam has become the religion of the oppressed, encompassing values such as the fight against imperialism, the fight for people treated unjustly. In a way, Islam has become what communism used to be for a growing number of people. Moreover, it is true that contrary to Judaism it is quite easy to convert to Islam, a process actually called reversion, as you only have to make a two line declaration called the Shahadah. [...]

[...] Moreover, these newly created states are fragile, victim of a high degree of social stress, created by the rise in the population in a context of scarce resources, the impoverishment of cities with rural exodus, and the dependence on Western money. Some other exogenous factors such as the introduction of Western values through mass culture and external stresses such as the war in the Balkans, the situation in Chechnya, in Kashmir and in Palestine have lead to an increased feeling of persecution. [...]

[...] As a consequence, according to S. Huntington, future conflicts will be sparked by cultural factors rather than ideologic or economic ones. But is this analysis accurate? At the time of expansive oil and global warming, it is more likely that future conflicts will develop along economic lines, especially in relation with resources and raw material. One out of four person on hearth is already under water stress, and this situation is likely to be exacerbated as inequalities are growing fast. [...]