What Was Huntington Actually Advocating? Posted by Heather Hurlburt

In preparation for a bloggingheads debate with Eli Lake tomorrow, I've activated my inner poli sci geek and been rereading the late Samuel Huntington.  You may think you know what he had to say about the clash of civilizations, and to a great extent, you do.  But just imagine if the folks who had their hands on the levers of power the last eight years had taken this peroration from the original Foreign Affairs article to heart (emphasis mine):

Non-Western civilization will continue to attempt to acquire the wealth, technology, skills, machines and weapons that are part of being modern. They will also attempt to reconcile this modernity with their traditional culture and values. Their economic and military strength relative to the West will increase. Hence the West will increasingly have to accommodate these non-Western modern civilizations whose power approaches that of the West but whose values and interests differ significantly from those of the West. This will require the West to maintain the economic and military power necessary to protect its interests in relation to these civilizations. It will also, however, require the West to develop a more profound understanding of the basic religious and philosophical assumptions underlying other civilizations and the ways in which people in those civilizations see their interests. It will require an effort to identify elements of commonality between Western and other civilizations. For the relevant future, there will be no universal civilization, but instead a world of different civilizations, each of which will have to learn to coexist with the others.**

**Edit- via the Boston Globe obit, I learn that he was a speechwriter for Adlai Stevenson.  No wonder I have a soft spot for him.

I still find the underlying framework a bit cartoonish -- many Indians and Pakistanis would find the splitting of Bengal or Kashmir into separate Hindu and Islamic "civilizations" quite ahistorical; and much of the current devastating violence in Africa is within "civilizations" (Somalia, Congo, Zimbabwe, arguably Darfur which cuts across lines that are more racial than religious), just to pick two examples.  Time has not been kind to his assertions about the economic threat Japan posed, just to pick one nit of many.  Isn't the Iran vs. Saudi Arabia dynamic really a fight about two versions of Islam -- to the extent, that is, that it's not just a fight for power and influence in a way that any political scientist ought to be able to understand without reaching back for mystical categories of civilization?  And there remains the fundamental debate about Al Qaeda -- is it best understood as waging a war within Islam, a war in which the West happens to have chosen a side, or as waging war with the West per se?

Having said all of that, Huntington was onto one big thing.  Where there is new, fierce energy unleashed in the world in the last 15 years, it has come in the name of civilizational rather than political ideologies.  This doesn't mean those frameworks have to make rational, historical sense to outsiders; but it also doesn't mean they are immutable and can only be confronted with force and violence. 

As I recall his seminal work on the relationship between militaries and politics, which I read as an undergraduate, it similarly looked deeply and seriously at a factor that, in those ideology-centric days of the 1950s and 1960s, was too often overlooked.  But its weakness was -- and I am drawing on my 19-year-old judgment here -- that it then tried to use that one factor to explain too much of the political evolution in Africa and other de-colonizing regions, and that it didn't do enough to situate the military in its socio-economic context.

I'll let the real poli sci experts comment on that.  But perhaps this is a good moment to draw a lesson about the difference between being a sharp observer and cataloguer of how the world works and being a wise deviser and implementer of solutions for how the US should be in the world that is.  Speaking of which, Hat Tips to Mark Lindeman for unrging a reconsideration of the oeuvre and Dan Drezner for his post about Huntington the human being (which also has interesting comments from folks who knew Huntington).

Comments

[Zathras]

An interesting peroration, that, considering that the most important non-Western "civilization" -- that of the Chinese -- has already had its "basic religious and philosophical assumptions" modified by two radical innovations originating in the West: Marxist ideology and Chinese integration in the global economy, both of which were consciously promoted by the Chinese government. Modern India, too, would not be the country we know without the combination of the British imperial legacy and the influence of economic globalism, either of which Indians could have rejected but chose not to. Japan consciously transformed itself once in response to the pressure of Western empires, again in response to one of the most devastating military defeats any modern nation has ever suffered followed by American occupation, and a third time after emerging as the world's second-largest economy. In the most important cases, it seems that "elements of commonality" between Western and non-Western cultures already exist, brought into being by ideas originating in the former and adopted more or less willingly by the latter.

That does, of course, leave out the Muslim world. But does it really? I don't know Huntington well enough to know how well he understood or how carefully he distinguished among the many countries with large populations of Muslims. Surely, however, it is clear enough by this time that many people invested in one side or another of the War on Terrorism have used the "clash of civilizations" idea to obscure those differences -- sometimes using "Muslim" as a synonym for "Arab," even more commonly equating Muslim concerns with those of people living in the area stretching from eastern North Africa to Pakistan.

I have always thought this unwise in practice, from the American point of view. The absence of potential divisions in any possible threat should never be assumed. Beyond that, though, some of the most important Muslim countries long ago decided they had interests apart from the beliefs of what we think of as the most troublesome Muslims, interests largely consistent with or at least not in mortal conflict with our own, and products as much of conscious choices by these countries as of anything forced on them by the West. The "clash of civilizations" discussion has always seemed to me to give these shared interests short shrift -- again, I won't claim to know Huntington well enough to say if this was a flaw in his own thinking or in that of people who have picked and chosen from his writing for their own reasons.

Even acknowledgement of all this leaves troubling questions unanswered. What if a "civilization" -- however that term is defined -- comes to define itself by rejection of the elements of commonality that enable diverse nations to get along peaceably? Significant strains of thought in the Arab countries, in Iran, in Pakistan do just this; so does an ideological tradition long powerful in Russia; so do ruling elites in some African countries and leaders of armed militias in others. Is it really enough to think in terms of accommodation between the West and powers elsewhere with "different" values that happen to be profoundly dangerous values? How accepting does such accommodation require us to be of things like terrorism or even genocide?

[vcsale goods]

The site of Vcsale is selling cheap wow gold
and cheap wow power leveling
.we also sell maple story money and maple story item in maple story and other MMO game.Look here to Buy cheap wow gold
with Fast Instant Delivery!www.vcsale.com

[Greg R. Lawson]

In this day of 24 hour news media and the cult of the soundbite, true intellectual achievements are becoming rarer as information rapidly proliferates. Samuel Huntington was a true intellectual. Irrespective of whether one agrees or disagrees with him, he shaped the perceptions of many not only in academia, but even more relevantly, in the world of policy.

I hope we can continue to produce thinkers of his caliber.

[Peace]

I happen to believe that ideology trumps civilization in defining a particular country's identity. In the last fifty it seems that various political ideologies have created their own views of various civilizations. In the nineteen fifties Nasser used the used the history of ancient Egypt for his own political purposes while the Muslim Brotherhood emphasizes the early Islamic period in Egyptian history. Iranian leaders also seem to pick what civilization that they believe bests represents their country, for the Shah it was the ancient Persia while the current Islamic regime admires the medeval Shiite period. Chinese leaders have also displayed similiar patterns, Mao wanted to get rid of the past altogether while his successors use the writings of ancient Chinese philosophers such as Confucious to legitimize their authoritarian rule. Civilization in these previous example seems to be an elastic term that regimes use to justify their ideological positions.

[Alana Ronald]

I listened, sadly, to your bloggin'heads discussion with Eli Lake.

PLEASE READ OR REREAD THE HAMAS CHARTER!

You, as a Jew, (Zionist), are an enemy, as you believe in Israel's right to exist, you and your ilk control world-wide money, media, and have incited Communism, WWll, and the French revolution.

Peace is not an option in article 7:The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).

Article 13: [Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of t

Also Article 22 is most edifying...http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

Do you want Israel to lie down and be annihilated?

With respect,

A. Ronald

[gucci knockoff handbags]

Do you want Israel to lie down and be annihilated

[candidates]

hi,,,! avril congrat'z i hope u have more composed songs, to make has, ur fans happy...! cause ur songs make my world rock and happy...!
hey..! my friends tell me were the same voice but not really...! luv yah..! muah..!

Thank you, who can help me, I Sohbet Odaları Sohbet would be grateful.

[replica Bvlgari Bracelets]

hi,,,! avril congrat'z i hope u have more composed songs, to make has, ur fans happy...! cause ur songs make my world rock and happy...!
hey..! my friends tell me were the same voice but not really...! luv yah..! muah..!

Thank you, who can help me, I Sohbet Odaları Sohbet would be grateful.

[luxury watches]

I am so with you,rolex watch
luxury watch

[luxury watches]

I am so with you,rolex watch
luxury watch

[sohbet]

I hope we can continue to produce thinkers of his caliber.

[sohbet]

thanks admin good post

[sohbet]

sohbet
yonja

Thank you very muCh

[sohbet]

Thanks very much for your blog

[sohbet odaları]

sohbet odaları-sohbet

ThankS admin

[sohbet]

a href="http://www.eniyisohbet.com" title="sohbet odaları">sohbet odaları-kızlarla sohbet

sohbet odaları

[sohbet]

thanks admin good post

[medyum]

thankl you very much
nice article

medyum
medyumlar

[sohbet]

thank you

[sohbet odaları]

tnaks for the info

Chat -

[sohbet]

Thank you very muCh

[Sohbet]

Thanks at all friends. At the last I must appreciate that your post is unique and I find it very useful for the people who like to take it that way.

[chat]

Thanks at all friends.

[seks sohbet]

No i will lovely man interesting way. Good blog

[izle]

Thank you for sharing this nice article for us Writing good thanks Displacedmanken

[sohbet]

Thank you very muCh

[islami sohbet]

Life is not bad.Good working nice post

[magic]

very thanks for article

[sohbet odaları]

Thanks at all friends. At the last I must appreciate that your post is unique and I find it very chat useful for the people who like to take it that way...

[netlog]

Thanks for this post. Its very nice on this niche

[cet]

cet bedava cet

thanks admin

[cet]

cet bedava cet

thanks admin

[cet]

cet

[sohbet]

Do you want Israel to lie down and be annihilated?

[Sohbet Odaları]

ThankS You For Admins

Chat Siteleri
Chat
Chat Sohbet
Sohbet

[kangal]

I am thanking for the knowledge

[adim]

mynet sohbet
koxp
forum

[lez]

gay sohbet

[chatsohbet]

chat sohbet

[طريقة]

thanks admin good post

[تحميل برامج]

Thanks for this post. Its very nice on this niche

[العاب]

thanks admin

[chat sohbet]

thanks admin

[chat]

thanks

[sohbet]

thanks you

[Dans]

Thanks very different and of course a different issue

[mirc]

If they are linking from the comment, I would consider it spam. If they post a comment, and it is on topic, be glad someone saw your blog and thought enough to post to it. http://www.hayda.net/

[sikiş]

adsadasdas

[KANGAL]

thanks very helpful

[neustar]

internet relay chat client
http://www.sohbettutku.com
http://www.sohbetlive.biz
http://www.liderchat.net
http://www.mircbul.net

[neustar]

internet relay chat client

http://www.sohbettutku.com
http://www.sohbetlive.biz
http://www.liderchat.net
http://www.mircbul.net

[ligtv izle]

blatchington navigable cardiology manually uploads repeatedly watch neilsen apoorva dovobet pointsfor
ligtv
kayserispor

[cam balkon]

blatchington navigable cardiology manually uploads repeatedly watch neilsen apoorva dovobet pointsfor

[oyun]

blatchington navigable cardiology manually uploads repeatedly watch neilsen apoorva dovobet pointsfor

[Çicek]

blatchington navigable cardiology manually uploads repeatedly watch neilsen apoorva dovobet pointsfor...

[sohbet]

Thank you very muCh admin

[güzel sözler]

I am thanking for the knowledge

[kabin]

Life is not bad.Good working nice post

[Estetik]

Subject impressive but incomplete expression

[araç sorgulama]

blatchington navigable cardiology manually uploads repeatedly watch neilsen apoorva dovobet pointsfor

[Ugg london]

This is very beauty article, I like it, thank you!
To the word you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

[remix]

remix

[sohbet odaları]

thanks admin. very good page.

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[cheap coach bags]

Great comments! You are so nice, man! You never know how much i like'em!

[forex]

You are so nice, man! You never know how much i like'em!

[mynet sohbet]

Thank you very muCh admin

[sohbet odaları]

Thank you very much for sharing..

[chat sohbet]

Thank you very much for sharing!!

[Estetik Fiyatları]

Guess not very clean-cut figures ...:)))

[sohbet odaları]

Thank you very much for sharing

[sohbet odası]

oke

[Sikis izle]

thank you very much admin

[Şifalı Bitkiler]

thank you very much admin

[blogw]

thanks a lot.

[mardinkusu]

mardin miro mardinkusu
mardin güvercini

[seks sohbet]

We are allright word and my think is loving and true way is nice... But interesting first liking wirelsss console. and the writing blog post is good.

[seks sohbet]

We are allright word and my think is loving and true way is nice... But interesting first liking wirelsss console. and the writing blog post is good living macroking.

[seks sohbet]

Longer life is nothing else matters. Your way is good.

[sohbet]

Longer life is nothing else matters. Your way is good.

[casus telefon]

I hope we can continue to produce thinkers of his caliber.

[sohbet]

Wow , I truly like the pix . They are so marvelous and drawn with all the traits .

[Sesli Sohbet]

Thank you for the information your provide.

[guncel saglik haberleri]

a very successful site. Also very revealing article. Thanks to the contributors.

[sesli sohbet]

Very informative and trustworthy blog. Please keep updating with great posts like this one. I have booked marked your site and am about to email it to a few friends of mine that I know would enjoy reading

[sohbet odaları]

This is very beauty article, I like it, thank you!
To the word you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
sohbet siteleri

[Eryaman hali yikama]

Good information and good way your blog post. Good luck blogger man.

[Güzelsözler]

Good information and good way your blog post. Good luck blogger man. güzel sözler

[sohbet odaları]

Thanks so much for this! This is exactly what I was looking for

[Chat]

Thank youu .. Wow , I truly like the pix ..

[k247br]

e biodegradablechanel bags when you "stoop and scoop."
Dispose of animal waste according to the campground rules or bury it off-road.
Observe fire coguccinditions and always keep a full jug of water nearby.
Remove flammable brush near fire pits and keep campfires small.
Don't burn plastics and metalshermes.
Use non-toxic, phosphate-free, biodegradable cleaning supplies and sanitary additives.
Reduce the need louis vuitton for air-conditioning by parking in natural shade, opening windows, using awnings or portable sun shelters.
Wash air-conditionidesignerng filters when dirty, instead of buying new ones each time.
Reduce the need to turn on heat designer handbagsby parking in a sheltered spot, out of the north and west winds.

[son sans]

thank you admin vey good to web site

[Sohbet]

Thank you a thousand times, admin. A great blog. Editing would be very happy if approved.

[FFXIV Gil]

Are you fighting in Final Fantasy XIV for FFXIV Gil or Final Fantasy XIV Gil?
Can you suffer yourself being called newbie in FFXIV Gil game?
Are you seeking unofficial Buy FFXIV Gil cheats or Final Fantasy XIV guides in order to make Final Fantasy XIV Gil faster?
Can you get millions of Cheap FFXIV Gil in one day?
Even if you know how to farm Buy Final Fantasy XIV Gil you have to prepare enough Final Fantasy XIV Power Leveling first to buy height class Final Fantasy XIV Items, to upgrade your Final Fantasy XIV characters.
FF14 Gil Then why not Buy FFXIV Gil from us?
In Final Fantasy XIV it's the fastest way FF14 Gil,for you to get rich. We are online 24 hours a day ready and 7 days one week to power up your FFXIV Gil accounts with FFXIV Gil. Here is the best place for the Final Fantasy XIV Online players to buy your Final Fantasy XIV Gil.
We are the professional website in FFXIV GIL sale.FFXIV GIL here,We are professional FFXIV Power Leveling online. We update price every single day to make sure we are the lowest in the market.(we don't compare price with scam sites which uses unbelievable low price to deceive.)
Our slogan:Cheapest price, Fastest delivery, Best service! Final Fantasy XIV GIL
In the 2 years we are in this field , FFXIV GILbuilt many business with tens of thousands of customers. They are very satisfied with our service.So if you want to get a log of Cheap FFXIV Gil ,no doubt ,come to our website to buy. Our customer service is ready for you on line now!(WWW,GM MMO,COM Sell FFXIV Gil)

[medyum]

great thank you. I wish you continued success www.medyumsitesi.com

[sohbet odaları]

very good

[ankara chat, ankara sohbet,ankara]

thanks you admin

[sosyete chat]

thanks admin

[çanakkale chat, çanakkale sohbet, muhabbet, çanakkale]

very good

[Sohbet]

Best of the best blog Tenks admin you power blog