The clash of civilizations in Ukraine

Abstract

This article analyses the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the light of Huntington’s theory of the clash of civilisations. In his text, Huntington stated, “If civilization is what counts, however, the likelihood of violence between Ukrainians and Russians should be low”. After the full-scale aggression of Russia against Ukraine, it is clearly visible that Huntington was completely wrong. This does not, however, falsify Huntington's entire concept, which nevertheless requires modification in the form of a new delimitation and naming of civilisations – there is no “Slavic-Orthodox civilisation”, but rather a “Eurasian civilisation”. These corrections, based on Oskar Halecki’s research, lead to the conclusion that Huntington’s theory is applicable in the case of the Russia-Ukraine war, with Ukraine being a Huntingtonian “torn country” that has decided to finally leave the Eurasian civilisation, while Russia is trying to prevent it.