Khater (2004) offers a look at many documents of Middle Eastern history, documents written by participants and observers of events and trends from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. A survey of these documents helps show how the West has gotten the issues wrong numerous times an how the Islamic countries fail to understand the nature of the West at the same time. Of particular note are the many diplomatic cables and other correspondence addressing the situation in Iran before the revolution and the return of Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1970s, showing how wrong the West had the situation and so demonstrating much about what would happen later. Hindsight may be twenty-twenty, as they say, but seeing how wrongly events were viewed at the time does not instill confidence that the West has it any more right when looking at the current situation.
Huntington does say Islam has bloody borders and notes the many fault line wars in the region, counting some 32 such conflicts during the Cold War. He sees such wars as emerging in areas where even minor cultural differences can become a source of conflict, and he further states, "Intense antagonisms and violent conflicts are pervasive between local Muslim and non-Muslim people" (Huntington, 1996, p. 255). The current conflict in the region is an example, and the long-standing enmity between much of Islam and Israel shows how such conflicts can become ingrained and foster even more conflict with supporters of Israel, as has happened since the creation of that state in 1948.
We may see Islamic states as less modernized and so more given to the need to have enemies as an internally unifying force, but this would be wrong. We can see in our own history how the same forces apply, as has been the case since the end of the Cold War. As the Communist world lost power, Americans looked elsewhere for enemies. Enemies serve to have a unifying effect on a largely heterogeneous people, and the Communist threat allowed Americans to decide who they themselves were, what they stood for, and to do so by comparing themselves to the enemy. Without that enemy, this imposed and somewhat false unity can disappear.
Historian Arthur...
" The book argues that the reality of history is a "ludicrously compressed and constricted warfare," Said continues; but indeed Huntington cannot grasp the notion that there are no strictly defined Muslim cultures but to make his book work he has to build a case that there is such a stereotypical, predictable Muslim culture. Said goes so far as to say that Huntington's book attempted to give his original article a
Samuel P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations." Foreign Affairs (Summer 1993): 22. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations," 22. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations," 22. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations," 23. Anatol Lieven, "Analysis: roots of the conflict between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia." The UK Times Online. (August 11, 2008). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4498709.ece (accessed September 2, 2009). Samuel P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations," 23-24. Anatole Lieven, "Analysis." Anatole Lieven, "Analysis." Natalia Antelava. "U.S. military will stay in Georgia." BBC
It is probable that Cameron inspired his film from the traditional conflict between Christianity and Islam. Some of the most influent forces in society have been devoted to impose their power over the rest of the world, similar to how humans did not hesitate to take up arms against the Na'vi when the latter did not want to comply with the former's requests. In Avatar, the human race is apparently
In Western discourse, Eastern civilizations including Islam are associated with anti-Western values whereas Jews and Christians have come to embody what Western civilization entails: social and economic progress and colonial dominion. After September 11, Islam became the West's arch-nemesis and vice-versa. Yet the clash of civilizations had begun centuries earlier: during the rise of the Ottoman Empire and its face-off with the predominantly Christian Europe. If Huntington's argument is correct,
The second case of cultural reaffirmation that Huntington discusses is that of Muslim societies which have followed a different path towards the reassertion of their cultural identity. In these societies, religion has been the main factor of cultural distinctiveness and influence. Huntington argues that religion is the main factor which distinguishes Muslim societies from the others, and that the resurgence of Islam "embodies the acceptance of modernity, rejection of Western
Huntington's Clash Of Civilization confirm or refute Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis Huntington's clash of civilization Scholars, journalists, and policy makers have adopted and popularized the ideas of Samuel P. Huntington, who was a professor of government at Harvard University, to explain the emerging post-cold war world. According to Huntington, the world is divided into a number of distinct civilizations that are irreconcilable because they hold to entirely different value systems (Huntington, 1993,
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