The Clash of Civilizations - Term Paper Example

Huntington (1998, pp.19) has called this a rediscovery of “new but often old identities.” Huntington (1998, pp.21) has argued that world has become “multi-polar and multi-civilizational” which character has been replacing the bipolar world of the cold war period. He (Huntington, 1998, pp.21) has further stated that a new grouping of states has been emerging based on world’s major “seven or eight civilizations. These civilizations have been listed as the Western civilization, Latin America, former Soviet Union, Eastern world, Muslim countries, Sub-Saharan African nations, and also the lone countries (Huntington, 1998).

It is also observed that “the balance of power among civilizations are shifting”, in favor of Non-Western countries as they are amassing more wealth, political strength and military base (Huntington, 1998, pp.21-23). Drawing attention to the “gap between Western principles and Western action,” Huntington (1998, pp.184, 21), opined that “west’s universalist pretentions” has escalated this conflict. He (Huntington, 1998, pp.103) has further suggested that in order to survive the conflicts, West should accept its identity as unique rather than universal and integrate what is called a western identity.

Another assumption of this book is that the world is being split into two distinct and separate cultural entities, namely, “the peoples of Western Christianity, on the one hand, …(and)… Muslim and Orthodox people, on the other”(Huntington, 1998, pp.28). Huntington (1998, pp.102) had believed that Aisan civilization and Islamic civilization would be the two major forces that would put great challenges before the west against its present domination of the world. This analysis of world politics has also concluded that “Muslims have traditionally divided the world into Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb, the