The Clash of Civilizations

Question 1

What did Samuel P. Huntington deliver a lecture on in 1992?

Answer 1

• A lecture which was then published in Foreign Affairs entitled “The Clash of Civilization.
• Huntington argued that the clash of civilization will dominate global politics
• the principle conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations
• He also argued that Islamic radicalism would become the biggest threat to world peace

Question 2

Who believed that the world politics entered a new phase: “the end of history.”

Answer 2

Huntington

Question 3

For centuries, what were the conflicts in the Western world largely conflict of?

Answer 3

For centuries, the conflict in the Western world were largely conflicts among monarchs or princess-emperors, i.e., “Western civil wars.”

Question 4

What did “Western civil wars” create?

Answer 4

They created “nation-states,” liberal democracy, and the capitalist free market economy that become dominant ideologies.

Question 5

When did international politics move out of its western phase?

Answer 5

With the end of the Cold War

Question 6

With the end of the cold war, what was the conflict shift between?

Answer 6

The conflict shifts: between the West and non-Western civilization,and among non-Western civilizations

Question 7

What will be the latest phase in the evolution of conflicts in the modern world?

Answer 7

Conflict between civilizations

Question 8

Why would conflict between civilizations be the latest phase in the evolution of conflicts in the modern world (4 main points)?

Answer 8

• differences among civilizations are not only real; they are basic
• civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition,and religion
• the people of different civilizations have different views on the relations between God and man
• they also have different view on the concept of the individual and the group, the citizens and the state, parents and children, as well as the relative importance of rights and responsibilities, liberties, and authority

Question 9

What weaker the nation states as a source of identity?

Answer 9

economic modernizations

Question 10

What moved to fill the gap created by economic modernizations?

Answer 10

religion, often in the form of “fundamentalism”

Question 11

What does “fundamentalism” provide?

Answer 11

Basis for identity that transcends national borders and unites civilizations

Question 12

What wer “Asianization,” “Hinduization,” and “re-Islamization” of the Middle East responses to?

Answer 12

Other civilizations turning inwards as a response to the role of the West who is now at the peak of power

Question 13

According to Huntington, is Islam at war with the West?

Answer 13

• The answer is affirmative
• He believed that there were indeed clashes between the Islamic civilizations and Western civilizations
• The breadth and depth of Muslim hostility toward Western politics is clear

Question 14

What did Huntington believe there was a clear clash between? What was the logical consequence of this clash?

Answer 14

• Also clear is the existence of clash between powerful forces speaking in the name of Islam and the Western powers who dominated the world in which Muslims live
• Logical consequence: Islamic civilization is by it nature, hostile to Western values.

Question 15

Conflict between Western and Islamic civilizations has been going on for___years.

Answer 15

1300

Question 16

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Answer 16

• After the founding of Islam, the Arabs moved west and north, only needed at Tours in 732
• 11th-13th the Crusaders attempted touring Christianity and Christian rulers to the Holy land with temporary success
• 14th-17th the Ottoman extended their sway to the Balkans, captured Constantinople, twice laid siege to Vienna
• 19th-20th France, Britain, Italy established Western control over most of North Africa and the Middl eEast
• aFter th eEuropean withdrew: the rise of nation states all over the world.

Question 17

What was Suddam Hussein’s view of the clash?

Answer 17

Explicitly invoked an Islamic appeal in his campaign against the US invasion of Iraq.

Question 18

What was Safar al- Hawali’s view of the clash?

Answer 18

It is not the world against Iraq, it is the West against Islam. The struggle against American aggression, greed, plans, and policies will be counted as Jihad, and anybody who is killed on that path is a martyr. This is a war against all Arabs and all Muslims, and not against Iraq alone.

Question 19

What did Edward Said say the clash was rooted in? Why?

Answer 19

• Such a clash theory is rooted in the history of post-Enlightenment world
• In the post Cold War, Islam is viewed as a religion that is antipathetic to the fundamental core values of the West

Question 20

Why was violent attack against the West inevitable, according to Edward Said?

Answer 20

Islam is inherently violent, more violent than other religions and hon-religious ideologies. This attacked was provoked not by particular grievances or set of circumstances, but by the very existence of Western civilization.

Question 21

What are 3 implications of Huntington’s thesis?

Answer 21

1) To warn that an entire civilization is, by definition, “our” enemy is to raise a call to arm ourselves against that civilization
2) When the hostility is said tone rooted in the very essence of one or both the opposite civilizations, then no peace is possible,r other a tactical true or cold war
3) When this thesis is read and believed in military and foreign policy circles, the assertion would become an ideological agent that generates conflict and hostility

Question 22

What are 2 misunderstandings from Huntington’s thesis?

Answer 22

• Rational West and Irrational East

- Modern world (West) vs. Medieval World (Muslims)

Question 23

What did Huntington argue about Christianity’s intolerance? What is the reality?

Answer 23

• While it may have been intolerant in the past, it has achieved reforms, while Islam remains trapped in medieval fanaticism.
• In reality, people of the Middle East and North Africa have fought for free government and self rule and reform since the early 20th century. Many militants and extremists were well-educated in modern education systems and knew little of classical Islamic tradition.

Question 24

What is Huntington’s concept of “Judeo-Christian civilization”? Why is it an incomplete category?

Answer 24

• Historically, jews contributed as much to the civilization ruled by Islam as they did to those ruled by Christianity
  0 If the clash of civilizations means the clash between Judeo-Christian civilization and “Islam,” it should be historically called the clash between Judaeo-Christian and Judeo-islamic civilizations.

Question 25

To some scientists,___ or___monotheism has been responsible for most of the wars in history.

Answer 25

• religion

- ethical

Question 26

What has long been hailed as the foundation of modern Western political and intellectual culture?

Answer 26

The Enlightenment

Question 27

What did the Enlightenment bring about to the West?

Answer 27

It brought about political modernization to the West, democratic values and institutions, and the creation of modern, liberal democracies.

Question 28

What have been some negative impacts of the Enlightenment?

Answer 28

• The Enlightenment has led to colonial conquest, enslavement of much of the world, two world wars, cold wars, massive environment disaster, and the Holocaust.
• It failed to provide moral understanding to avoid the barbarity of less-modern, less-technological society.