Civilisations In Conflict

The classic study of post-Cold War international relations, more relevant than ever in today’s geopolitical climate—with a foreword by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Since its initial publication in 1996, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order has become one of the most influential books ever written about foreign affairs. Samuel Huntington explains how clashes between civilizations pose the greatest threat to world peace, but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order explains how the population explosion in Muslim countries and the economic rise of East Asia have changed global politics. These developments challenge Western dominance, promote opposition to supposedly “universal” Western ideals, and intensify inter-civilization conflict over such issues as nuclear proliferation, immigration, human rights, and democracy. In his incisive analysis, Huntington offers a strategy for the West to preserve its unique culture and emphasizes the need for people everywhere to learn to coexist in a complex, multipolar, multi-civilizational world.

""Samuel Huntington's thesis, which argues that there appear to be aspects of Islam that could be on a collision course with the politics and values of Western societies, has provoked much controversy. The purpose of this study is to offer a particular response to Huntington's thesis by making a comparison between the origins of Islam and Christianity; the two religions that can be said to have shaped, in contrasting ways, the history of the Western world. The early history of each faith continues to have a profound impact on the way in which their respective followers have interpreted the relationship between faith and political life. The book draws significant, critical and creative conclusions from the analysis for contemporary intercultural understanding, and in particular for the debate about the justification of violence for political and religious ends. Andrew Kirk offers a profound analysis of Christianity, Islam, and Western civilisation, providing alternatives to a clash of civilisations. He secures his right to advise others through an honest critique of his own tradition."" Matt Zahniser Scholar-in-Residence at Greenville College, Greenville, IL & Professor Emeritus of Christian Mission at Asbury Theological Seminary, KY ""An eminent missiologist, who has long reflected on Christianity and the West, applies his mind to Islam and the West. The result is a careful analysis of current debates, the identification from a Christian perspective of fundamental issues, and a prophetic call. At the centre is a valuable study of how the origins of the two faiths can determine their views of how religion relates to politics, which leads to an important discussion of the missions of both Muslims and Christians to the West."" Ida Glaser, Academic Director, Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford ""In his latest book Civilisations in Conflict? Islam, the West and Christian Faith Andrew Kirk takes on Samuel Huntington's thesis of a clash of civilisations. Kirk takes his reader on a journey into history, showing that contemporary political stances by Muslims and Christians can be better comprehended when some of the choices made in the formative years of both traditions are understood. Rather than simply endorsing Huntington's thesis of an envisioned clash, Kirk focuses on the second and less well-known part of Huntington's thesis: 'the remaking of World Order'. He ends his book with a passionate appeal to the adherents of both Christianity and Islam to safeguard the prophetic core of their traditions. Prophetism, according to Kirk, can function as a critical notion against the development and impact of static and oppressive religious and political ideologies that enhance the probability of a clash of civilisations. Even more, the prophetic core of both religions can contribute significantly to a new - and shared - world order. A book worth reading "" Martha Frederiks Professor of Missiology, World Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue, Utrecht University J. Andrew Kirk has spent much of his life teaching theological subjects in tertiary educational institutions in Argentina and England. He has also taught courses on all six continents. Since retirement he has been involved on a part-time basis with graduate institutes in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom. He is the author of many books, including What is Mission? Theological Explorations and The Future of Reason, Science and Faith: Following Modernity and Postmodernity. He is married with three children and two grandchildren.

Argues that world political actions and decisions are being configured along cultural rather than economic or religious lines and looks at the issues and areas most likely to be in the forefront in the near future.

Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? And what of war today: is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape? This book sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the riddle of war throughout human history.

This new volume offers an alternative view of human civilization in a globalizing age, exploring the uneven pace of development of human societies, particularly in the last two centuries, and arguing that this is leading to a global civil war.

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons, grade: 1,7, University of Munster, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Samuel P. Huntington was born in 1927 and is at the moment director of the John- Olin Institute for strategic studies at the University of Harvard. He was the author of an article, first published in the Foreign Affairs magazine, which has, according to Russel, Oneal and Cox ( 2000, p.584) "turned into one of the most influential recent books on international relations." This article was called "the Clash of Civilizations?" and afterwards was extended (in 1996) to his book, called "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order." This book was meant to be seen as a response to his highly polarising and provocative article mentioned above. In it, he tries to give answers to the questions which arose from his article and tries to clarify his standpoints and claims to underpin his thesis. Samuel P. Huntington has given new currency to the notion of a clash of civilizations. His 1993 article on the topic in Foreign Affairs and his book following this article has gained a global audience. Huntington argues that the bipolar division of the world based on ideology is no longer relevant. The world was entering a new period of intense conflict among civilizations. He states: "It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain them most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future." (Huntington, 1993, p.22) In trying to understand the causes

In 1993, Samuel P. Huntington boldly asserted in the pages of Foreign Affairs, the preeminent magazine on foreign policy and international relations, that world politics was entering a new phase, one in which cultural differences in religion, history, language, and tradition were replacing Cold War tensions and would soon become the world's fundamental points of conflict.Huntington's striking thesis elicited both criticism and praise from the media and political experts around the world. More than a decade later, "The Clash of Civilizations?" continues to be a touchstone in global politics as writers passionately debate its merits and propose countertheories of their own.This collection presents the original, seminal essay followed by critical responses published in Foreign Affairs, including the author's reply to his critics and contemporary additions to the enduring question of how to understand world conflict.

The myth of the peace-loving "noble savage" is persistent and pernicious. Indeed, for the last fifty years, most popular and scholarly works have agreed that prehistoric warfare was rare, harmless, unimportant, and, like smallpox, a disease of civilized societies alone. Prehistoric warfare, according to this view, was little more than a ritualized game, where casualties were limited and the effects of aggression relatively mild. Lawrence Keeley's groundbreaking War Before Civilization offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization (an idea he denounces as "the pacification of the past"). Building on much fascinating archeological and historical research and offering an astute comparison of warfare in civilized and prehistoric societies, from modern European states to the Plains Indians of North America, War Before Civilization convincingly demonstrates that prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war. To support this point, Keeley provides a wide-ranging look at warfare and brutality in the prehistoric world. He reveals, for instance, that prehistorical tactics favoring raids and ambushes, as opposed to formal battles, often yielded a high death-rate; that adult males falling into the hands of their enemies were almost universally killed; and that surprise raids seldom spared even women and children. Keeley cites evidence of ancient massacres in many areas of the world, including the discovery in South Dakota of a prehistoric mass grave containing the remains of over 500 scalped and mutilated men, women, and children (a slaughter that took place a century and a half before the arrival of Columbus). In addition, Keeley surveys the prevalence of looting, destruction, and trophy-taking in all kinds of warfare and again finds little moral distinction between ancient warriors and civilized armies. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, he examines the evidence of cannibalism among some preliterate peoples. Keeley is a seasoned writer and his book is packed with vivid, eye-opening details (for instance, that the homicide rate of prehistoric Illinois villagers may have exceeded that of the modern United States by some 70 times). But he also goes beyond grisly facts to address the larger moral and philosophical issues raised by his work. What are the causes of war? Are human beings inherently violent? How can we ensure peace in our own time? Challenging some of our most dearly held beliefs, Keeley's conclusions are bound to stir controversy.

Expanding upon, and engaging with, the influential theories of Francis Fukuyama in The End of History and Samuel Huntington in The Clash of Civilisations, this book is a major, and controversial, contribution to these key contemporary debates. Dieter Senghaas examines some of the most significant political issues we face today: * How do societies cope with pluralization? * Can tolerance be a successful solution? * What is the role of 'culture' in recent conflicts which have been described as culturally induced? * And will twenty-first-century world politics sink into cultural conflicts on a biblical scale? Dieter Senghaas explores these questions within the context of the main non-Western cultural areas Chinese political philosophy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism and goes on to reflect on the possibility of a constructive form of intercultural dialogue. Senghaas's distinctive and radical approach will be of great interest and topicality to all those working in politics, international relations, sociology, cultural studies, development studies, religion and international political economy.

Five specialists examine the historical relationship of culture and conflict in various regional societies. The authors use Adda B. Bozeman's theories on conflict and culture as the basis for their analyses of the causes, nature, and conduct of war and conflict in the Soviet Union, the Middle East, Sinic Asia (China, Japan, and Vietnam), Latin America, and Africa. Drs. Blank, Lawrence Grinter, Karl P. Magyar, Lewis B. Ware, and Bynum E. Weathers conclude that non-Western cultures and societies do not reject war but look at violence and conflict as a normal and legitimate aspect of sociopolitical behavior.