In the throes of civilizational conflict?

Abstract

As the ideological conflict of the former superpowers has ended in the post‐Cold‐War era, some policymakers—in search of new enemies abroad—have discovered a new menace. Having declared victory over the threat from the East—communism—some intellectuals now warn us about a more ominous menace from the South. If the conflict between capitalism and communism arose from competing ideologies and economic systems that both originated in Judeo‐Christian tradition, the new global conflict with the South derives from primeval and civilizational loyalties that do not easily lend themselves to a rational or peaceful resolution. If George Kennan was the Cold War's chief theoretician, then Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington is the intellectual architect of civilizational war. The Third World poses not merely a political and economic threat but also a challenge to the West's cherished and superior values. It threatens Western civilization, which Huntington claims is on the verge of being overrun, polluted, and infiltrated by the non‐Western cultures. While ideological conflict was based on what one believes, civilizational conflicts are based on “who you are.” While ideas may change over time, individual identities much more fervently resist social change. Consequently, civilizational conflicts will be more intense and violent. Thus, the main fault lines in world politics will be those between civilizations. Modernization has ushered in forces of globalization that have rendered the state as secondary. The common civilizational identities will be the new basis for realigning global politics. The Cold War's end signaled the end of the Western phase of international politics and heralded an increasing prominence of non‐Western civilization in political and economic arenas. Islamic civilization provides a prime candidate for conflict between the West and the non‐West since Islam, according to Huntington, “has bloody borders” and opposes cherished Western institutions such as democracy.