Clash of Civilization Part 1

Main Argument

Sub Argument

I. The Shifting Balance of Civilization

* Huntington starts the chapter by providing two pictures of the power of the West in relation to other civilization. There are opposing pictures on the West’s hold on power. The one picture oppose that the west has the substantial interest in every other civilizations and still has the ability to affect the politics, economics, and security of every other civilization. The west still has a monopoly to other civilization. The second picture is very different. It argues that the relative power and influence of the West is declining. Its share of the world political, economic and military power is going down. Huntington provides three major characteristics of the Western decline. In general, the West will remain the most powerful civilization into the early decades of the 21st century. It will persist to have a substantial lead in research, civilian and military technological innovation, development capabilities, and scientific talent. The ability of Asian countries to successfully modernize and develop economically without adopting western values supports Huntington's assertion that the world is becoming more modernized, but less Westernized.

* Huntington contests that religion is playing a major role in civilization dynamics outside the secularized West. Religion is a key ingredient of civilizations in Huntington’s theory. He states. ‘Of Weber’s five world religions, four – Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Confucianism – are associated with major civilizations. Huntington points out that religion was always a force in politics but this was obscured by the three modern European wars. In most countries and most religions the people active in fundamentalist movements are young, college-educated, middle-class technicians, professionals and business persons. The revival of religion, "La Revanche de Dieu," as Gilles Kepel labeled it, provides a basis for identity and commitment that...