Knowra Clash of Civilizations Clash of Civilizations Samuel Huntington’s thesis that, after the Cold War, conflicts would increasingly arise from cultural and religious divisions among major civilizations. It treats civilizational identity as a major source of political alignment and conflict.
Samuel P. Huntington : An American political scientist whose work examined political order, democratization, and civilizational conflict. He formulated the thesis and developed its claims about culture, power, and conflict.
Civilizational identity : A sense of belonging to a broad cultural formation understood as distinct from others. It is the collective identity Huntington expects to shape political loyalties.
Francis Fukuyama : An American political scientist known for arguing that liberal democracy could represent the endpoint of ideological evolution. His post–Cold War thesis foregrounds liberal democracy rather than civilizational rivalry.
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order : Samuel Huntington’s 1996 book elaborating his thesis about civilizations and post–Cold War international conflict. The book sets out the thesis’s civilizational map, mechanisms, and policy implications.
Orientalism : A critical framework, associated with Edward Said, for examining Western representations of the Middle East and Asia. Critics connect Huntington’s civilizational categories to broad representations that flatten internal differences.
Civilization : A large, historically shaped cultural formation that may encompass shared institutions, values, language, or religion. Huntington treats civilizations as the broadest cultural identities shaping global politics.
Fault line war : A conflict between groups from different civilizations, often involving communities along their cultural boundaries. Huntington uses this term for local conflicts that may intensify through wider civilizational support.
Realism (international relations) : A tradition in international relations that explains state behavior through power, security, and competition. Realism attributes conflict chiefly to state interests and power, not cultural blocs.
Bosnian War : A 1992–1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina involving Bosniak, Bosnian Serb, and Bosnian Croat forces. Huntington cited the conflict as an example of civilizational identities intersecting with war.
Edward Said : A Palestinian-American literary scholar whose work examined imperial power and Western representations of the Orient. Said publicly criticized Huntington’s framework for treating civilizations as fixed, coherent blocs.
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