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Title: The CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND THE REMAKING OF WORLD ORDER by Samuel P. Huntington ISBN: 0-684-84441-9 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 28 January, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (178 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A brilliant explanation of war
Comment: Reviewers who criticized this book missed the point by misunderstanding fault line wars or focusing too much on the details of civilizations.
Huntington took studies by Toynbee and others on the rise and fall of civilizations and used them to develop a theoretical and practical explanation of war: Why do some small wars remain local, while other small wars expand into larger regional wars, or even world wars?
The answer is that a small conflict becomes important when the belligerents are part of larger identity groups. Thus, we couldn't care less about a war between two Nigerian tribes -- until we learn that one tribe is Muslim and the other is Christian. At that point, the small war becomes part of a larger fault line conflict between Muslims and Christians worldwide, and other Muslim or Christian nations might get involved, either to negotiate a peace or to join the war as new belligerents.
Huntington foresees a major worldwide clash between Western and Muslim civilizations, but not for some vague religious reason. He foresees this clash because for several decades the population of Muslim countries has been growing much faster than the population in Western countries, creating a "youth bulge" of young Muslim men eager to join other Muslim men to fight the infidels. In other words, it's demography, not religious dogma, that's leading to the "clash of civilizations."
There's been a lot of silly nonsense written about this book, some people even calling it "dangerous" because it might cause a war. (Can anyone cite any historical example where a book was the cause of a war?)
What's really true is that Huntington's predictions, made in 1995, appear to be coming true, especially in the Mideast, where the Israeli/Palestinian situation has been deteriorating continually for years. This is not the time to live in a state of denial. If the Mideast breaks out into full scale war and then attracts Muslim and Western identity groups as belligerents (something that seems quite likely), then we will indeed have a major clash of civilizations, and we really ought to be preparing ourselves for it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting and Persuasive
Comment: This is truly an excellent book that may just define the much-needed new paradigm for post cold war international relations. Huntington's thesis that civilisational identity and conflict will dominate the next 50 years of international relations is both interesting and persuasive. Of particular interest is his exposition of the inherent conflicts between Islam and the West that are deeply rooted in the history and identity of the two civilisations. Also, he persuasivley argues that the precepts of western civilisation (liberalism, democracy etc. . .) are not valuable to the world because they are as universally binding, but rather because they are unique in world history.
The only reasons I do not give it 5 stars are because: 1)he relies too much on the sheer breadth of examples to illustrate his main thesis without stepping back (enough) to explain and argue how the examples prove the thesis; and 2) he makes the patently foolish argument that the economies of east Asia and Japan do not follow the standard rules of "western" economics. Paul Krugman ("the Myth of the Asian Miracle") and Bill Emmot ("the Sun Also Sets") explained exactly why the exceptional growth rates of these economies were unsustainable in the long term, and they seem to have been vindicated. He also makes the straw-man argument that economists improperly claim that economic growth alone will bring peace between "conflicted" countries. Huntington argues that growth merely brings greater opportunity for conflict. I think most economists would actually agree with Huntington's position for the very same reasons he gives. However, the real argument (stated vulgarly) is that growth through FREE TRADE will foster peace because over time it will create powerful interests in even "conflicted" countries to resolve disputes peacefully because these interests understand that war is bad for business.
That said, I think this book will define the terms of the next generation of international thought and policy.
Finally, the title of this book has become a popular buzz phrase on cable news and talk radio. However, once read, it will be obvious that most who like to use the phrase have never read this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Pure Propaganda
Comment: This is a dangerous book especially for those who do'nt know much about Islam, Asia and the Mideast.
The main idea of the book is that " If we don't destroy them, they will destroy us " whch is a justification for the imperialism The U.S government is practicing on the world nowadays.
Simpely thre is no clash of " Civilizations " but a clash of " Fundamentalisms " I reccomend ( The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity ) by Tariq Ali instead of this ' Pure Propaganda '.
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Title: The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama ISBN: 0380720027 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 February, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Who Are We : The Challenges to America's National Identity by Samuel P. Huntington ISBN: 0684870533 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: May, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress by Lawrence E. Harrison, Samuel P. Huntington ISBN: 0465031765 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 03 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman ISBN: 0385499345 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan ISBN: 1400040930 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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