Further reflections on Samuel P. Huntington’s “Clash of civilization” and contemporary global politics

Abstract

When civilizations clash or encounter one another, it is a general expectation that one of them will necessarily influence or even dominate the other. This has been the principal character of the advent of Euro-Western civilizations across regions of the world such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. Whereas previous studies have been able to detail how this influence has affected the regions economically, socially, environmentally and politically, this study takes the discourse further to understand how the contact of civilizations can be useful for comprehending contemporary relations in the international community. This study uses the ideas of Samuel P. Huntington as a theoretical framework for showing how civilizations have shaped and influenced global politics in contemporary times. When the proposal of Huntington is assessed from the perspective of how Western civilization has influenced Africa and Latin America especially, three crucial theses are noticeable. First, is the point that Western civilization seeks to dominate or exterminate and then replace non-Western civilizations in the latter’s domain. Second, non-Western cultures are usually drained of their economic resources and minerals in the name of civilization and colonization. Third, the influence of the West in contemporary international relations is waning, and this is one of the reasons why the place of countries like China in contemporary global politics is colossal and really influential in places where Western civilizations used to have unparalleled influence. Following these three theses, this research claims that when one considers the interplay among the civilizations of the world, Huntington’s analysis is penetrative and helpful in making sense of how they reflect in contemporary world politics.