Question.2363 - Assignment 2: Summary and Reflection on the “Clash of Civilizations” The summaries and reflections on the topics that we discuss throughout the semester are designed to insure that you have reviewed the PowerPoint presentations carefully and thought about the important points and critical issues. All of the summaries and reflections will have the same format and include two sections: Part 1 - a simple list of important points and critical issues that we have covered in each of the subject or geographic areas, much like the table of contents of a book, an outline of a book chapter, or a list of key statements from each of the sections covered in one or more PowerPoint slides of each presentation, and Part 2 - your reflection or comments on each topic, or one or more selected elements of each topic. The first part clearly represents a brief overview of each topic. The second part is designed to show that you have seriously thought about some of the important points and critical issues and to demonstrate your thoughtful reactions or creative and constructive ideas. The Clash of Civilizations is a hypothesis that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. The American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington argued that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures. It was first proposed in a Bradley Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington in October of 1992, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations? ”, in response to his former student Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Huntington (1996) wrote, “That article [The Clash of Civilizations?], according to the Foreign Affairs editors, stirred up more discussion in three years than any other article they had published since the 1940s. It certainly stirred up more debate in three years than anything else I have written. The responses and comments on it have come from every continent and scores of countries. People were variously impressed, intrigued, outraged, frightened, and perplexed by my argument that the central and most dangerous dimension of the emerging global politics would be conflict between groups from differing civilizations. Whatever else it did, the article struck a nerve in people of every civilization.” For your commentary or reflection on “Clash of Civilizations” (Part 2), you may choose to focus on any of the key points of Samuel Huntington’s hypothesis and the criticism of Edward Said (The Myth of the "Clash of Civilizations"). You could also focus on the benefits and challenges generated by globalization and multiculturalism and the best ways for addressing global conflicts and internal divides. Others may choose to comment on the key causes for global conflicts. In other words, what you choose to focus on is completely open. The key purpose for writing the commentary or reflection is to demonstrate that you have carefully reviewed the lecture materials, thought about some of the key points that we have discussed, and have some ideas on how we could approach these challenges constructively and develop some realistic and effective solutions. As I indicated many times, you should use the Powerpoint presentation posted on the Blackboard as the foundation for completing your assignment. You are encouraged to incorporate materials that you have learned in other related courses or from other sources. For this particular assignment, you are expected to have watched the following videos: Charlie Rose Interview with Samuel P. Huntington on Thursday 01/30/1997 https://charlierose.com/videos/17838 (22:04) Edward Said: The Myth of the "Clash of Civilizations" (Lecture given at UMass Amherst) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPS-pONiEG8 (52:03) and have read the following article and chapters: Samuel P. Huntington, 1993. The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3, p. 22-49 (Available on the Blackboard). Samuel P. Huntington, 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, SIMON & SCHUSTER, New York, NY 368 p. (Chapters 1 & 12 available on the Blackboard) Part 1 (simple list of important points and critical issues) should be about one-page long (single space). Part 2 (your commentary or reflection) should be about two pages (double space and 12-point size). Please submit your completed assignment through the Blackboard by clicking “Assignments” and then following the on-screen instructions.
Answer Below:
Table of Contents Part 1 2 Part 2 3 References 5 3 Part 1 The clash of civilizations refers to the theory that states the civilizations to which the people belonged. The argument is that civilizations are associated with religion and culture, hence the cultural and religious identities had become more modern in the post-cold-war situation. The conflict between civilizations is not raised from the primary economic or ideological factors but from cultural factors (Huntington, 2000). The most common division is between the nations between rich or developed nations and poor or developing nations. Though it seems that the distinction between these two categories of countries is seen among the societies, the actual differences resulted from the attempts of the rich and developed countries’ colonization over the poor countries empirically. Most countries are engaged in allying with each other for maximizing their power and for ensuring their survival. For security, most countries are involved in increasing their capability by increasing their military powers which in turn triggers the atmosphere of conflict (Huntington, 2000). The cultural influence had become so powerful that the countries which pose similar cultures are more likely to ally with each other. But on the other hand, countries which have different cultures are likely to feel some kinds of threats from each other. It is due to the fact that nations posed similar cultures have the opportunity to share their religion, language, institutions, values and cultures. In the post-cold war, the conflict among the countries is more stimulated by cultural distinction. The cultural differences both act as unifying forces and divisive as the nations that are separated by ideologies were united by their cultural backgrounds. Such an instance is seen in the case of Germany and Korea which have a similar culture but separate ideologies come together (Huntington & Jervis, 1997). Further, the Soviet Union are divided into a civilization which has similar ideologies but cultural differences. In the post-cold war era, there had been seen both multicivilizational and multipolar divisions for the first time. As a result, a world which is grounded solely upon civilization has emerged. The communities and societies that share similar cultures, and values are grouped together and the transformation of any culture from one civilization to another was not successful (Hedges, 2007). 4 In the post-cold war, the balance of power is most likely to shift from the western countries to the Asian nations. The strengths of the Asian nations in terms of military, economy and polity are developing gradually as the Asian nation are expanding their own cultures (Haynes, 2019). Part 2 The topic effectively reflected the cultural as well as religious identities which was supposed to be the initial source of conflict throughout the post-cold war. Because of the clash of civilizations on an international level the states are more likely to become engaged in conflict with one another who belongs to distinct civilizations. The most immediate impact of this clash of civilizations is there increasing the destruction of public assets, displacement of the population, injuries and death and the disruption of economic and social systems. The clashes among the nations contribute to creating an environment of tension at the global level. There is a crucial contribution of colonization in the clash of civilizations as the developed nations always attempt to conquer the poor and developing nations. Colonization not only affects the colonized, poor, and underdeveloped nations economically but impacts their cultural identities empirically. This in turn stimulates the colonized nations to be more engaged in protecting and promoting their cultural identities effectively (Haynes, 2019). Due to the clash of civilizations, the requirement of increasing both political and military power is developed among most countries. This clash contributes to the continuing of building an alliance with other nations which pose similar cultural identities. As a result, communications across the globe have increased which intensifies civilization consciousness (Haynes, 2019). The interactions also build the awareness of the distinction between the commonalities and the civilizations within certain civilizations. Cultural influence while acting as the factor of grouping the nations with each other, it acts as a positive factor. But the concerns arise when it stimulates the perception of threats from countries which pose different cultural practices (Hedges, 2007). It not only contributes to separating the nations which have different cultures but also make an atmosphere of tension among them which have a negative impact on their development. The cultural identities which act as the unifying force also act as dividing forces. In the era of post-cold war, cultural identities had become so significant that it overcomes the ideologies of 5 the nations. As has been seen in the case of Germany and Koreans, the cultural identities are more important than the ideologies of these nations. Further, as the hypothesis of clash of civilizations proposed that terrorism is stimulated by the hatred spread by the western nations, unilateral actions have been taken by the US which is not coordinated with the other countries. Due to the clash of civilizations, the multipolar and multicultural division of the world has occurred. The critiques of this multiculturalism give the argument against the integrated culture of distinct cultural and ethnic groups to the already existing values and laws of the countries. Further, the bipolarism of the nation due to the clash of civilizations the challenges such as relationship challenges, medication and side effects and the co-occurring situation been raised. This also provides a negative impact on the nations overall. The clash of civilizations triggers the transformation of the balance of power from the western countries to the Asian nations. The Asian countries are more conscious of their cultural identities and this awareness makes these countries develop their power specifically in their military power which nothing but creates tension among the nations. It could be said that cultural similarity act as the stimulating key factor as to whether to ally or apart from the unions. As cultural identity is one of the crucial elements in perceiving an individual's identity it acts as the trigger point as to ally with the countries or not. As the clash of civilizations emerged from the cultural factors the cultures are both dividing and unifying forces. 6 References Haynes, J. (2019). Introduction: The “clash of civilizations” and relations between the West and the Muslim world. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 17(1), 1-10. Hedges, C. (2007). What every person should know about war. Simon and Schuster. Huntington, S. P. (2000). The clash of civilizations?. In Culture and politics (pp. 99-118). Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Huntington, S. P., & Jervis, R. (1997). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. Finance and Development-English Edition, 34(2), 51-51.
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