The document discusses Samuel Huntington's theory of a "multicivilizational system" consisting of three phases: separation of civilizations, Western dominance, and a revolt against the West leading to resurgence of other civilizations. It argues Huntington was correct by citing China's economic growth reducing US influence and the rise of ISIS countering Western influence in Iraq. It predicts China will become the dominant economic power, Russia the military power, and the US will lose power due to becoming a multicultural nation unable to present a unified front, while Islam and cultural conflicts increase tensions globally.
How Americans are loved in Vietnam despite a brutal war? How China has to secure global leadership amid so many internal and external challenges? How China is eager to claim a global leadership - while living with Few Friends but with more Rivals? What are the prospective Political Reforms that follows the full commitment to UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES, CAN GIVE CHINA A WIDER GLOBAL RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTABILITY FOR ITS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP.
Events post September 11 are no war on terrorism. They are a much wider Crusade against Islam and its targets are Muslims. Even a superficial analysis of events confirms this.
It simply cannot be the case that an alliance of some 40 of the most powerful nations with all their wealth, military might, intelligence and propaganda resources have mobilised against one man in a cave with a few hundred followers. Nor is such a force required to defeat a lightly armed militia force such as the Taliban.
Social Studies - Transnational TerrorismGoh Bang Rui
Subscribe to my education channel.
bit.ly/gohbangrui
These slides introduce Chapter 1: Transnational Terrorism to the Secondary 4 students who are studying Social Studies for the Singapore current syllabus.
These slides are divided into 3 areas.
1. Who is Osama? What is Al-Qaeda? [Slide 4]
2. Muslim Extremism [Slide 9]
3. Israel-Palestine Conflict [Slide 37]
Any feedback is welcome.
1). In The Sources of Soviet Conduct George Kennan (under the al.docxNarcisaBrandenburg70
1).
In "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" George Kennan (under the alias "X") argues that the United States was fundamentally challenged as a nation-state by the Soviet Union. In trying to account for Soviet conduct, Kennan says a lot about the nature of the United States and its role in the world. Indeed, at the end of the essay he implies that the U.S. holds a moral and political leadership over the rest of the world. Kennan's view of the U.S. is both popular within U.S. politics and as relevant today as it was in the 1947. What can we draw from Kennan to better understand the U.S. role in the world today; and what elements of Kennan's analysis pose challenges to global governance?
2). "
As we face up to the costs both of fundamentalist terrorism and of fighting it, must we not ask ourselves how it is that when we see religion colonize every other realm of human life we call it theocracy and turn up our noses at the odor of tyranny; and when we see politics colonize every other realm of human life we call it absolutism and tremble at the prospect of totalitarianism; but when we see market relations and commercial consumerism try to colonize every other realm of human life we call it liberty and celebrate its triumph? There are too many John Walkers who begin by seeking a refuge from the aggressive secularist materialism of their suburban lives and end up slipping into someone else’s dark conspiracy to rid the earth of materialism’s infidels. If such men are impoverished and without hope as well, they become prime recruits for jihad."
First, does a market based society alienate those marginalized from it; and if so, then is this a sufficient condition to foment terrorism, whether based on Islam or more domestic variants found in the U.S.?
3). Huntington writes, "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 the most powerflil 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."
Do you agree with Huntington's hypothesis? Why or why not?
.
How Americans are loved in Vietnam despite a brutal war? How China has to secure global leadership amid so many internal and external challenges? How China is eager to claim a global leadership - while living with Few Friends but with more Rivals? What are the prospective Political Reforms that follows the full commitment to UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES, CAN GIVE CHINA A WIDER GLOBAL RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTABILITY FOR ITS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP.
Events post September 11 are no war on terrorism. They are a much wider Crusade against Islam and its targets are Muslims. Even a superficial analysis of events confirms this.
It simply cannot be the case that an alliance of some 40 of the most powerful nations with all their wealth, military might, intelligence and propaganda resources have mobilised against one man in a cave with a few hundred followers. Nor is such a force required to defeat a lightly armed militia force such as the Taliban.
Social Studies - Transnational TerrorismGoh Bang Rui
Subscribe to my education channel.
bit.ly/gohbangrui
These slides introduce Chapter 1: Transnational Terrorism to the Secondary 4 students who are studying Social Studies for the Singapore current syllabus.
These slides are divided into 3 areas.
1. Who is Osama? What is Al-Qaeda? [Slide 4]
2. Muslim Extremism [Slide 9]
3. Israel-Palestine Conflict [Slide 37]
Any feedback is welcome.
1). In The Sources of Soviet Conduct George Kennan (under the al.docxNarcisaBrandenburg70
1).
In "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" George Kennan (under the alias "X") argues that the United States was fundamentally challenged as a nation-state by the Soviet Union. In trying to account for Soviet conduct, Kennan says a lot about the nature of the United States and its role in the world. Indeed, at the end of the essay he implies that the U.S. holds a moral and political leadership over the rest of the world. Kennan's view of the U.S. is both popular within U.S. politics and as relevant today as it was in the 1947. What can we draw from Kennan to better understand the U.S. role in the world today; and what elements of Kennan's analysis pose challenges to global governance?
2). "
As we face up to the costs both of fundamentalist terrorism and of fighting it, must we not ask ourselves how it is that when we see religion colonize every other realm of human life we call it theocracy and turn up our noses at the odor of tyranny; and when we see politics colonize every other realm of human life we call it absolutism and tremble at the prospect of totalitarianism; but when we see market relations and commercial consumerism try to colonize every other realm of human life we call it liberty and celebrate its triumph? There are too many John Walkers who begin by seeking a refuge from the aggressive secularist materialism of their suburban lives and end up slipping into someone else’s dark conspiracy to rid the earth of materialism’s infidels. If such men are impoverished and without hope as well, they become prime recruits for jihad."
First, does a market based society alienate those marginalized from it; and if so, then is this a sufficient condition to foment terrorism, whether based on Islam or more domestic variants found in the U.S.?
3). Huntington writes, "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 the most powerflil 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."
Do you agree with Huntington's hypothesis? Why or why not?
.
1. Samuel Huntington is perhaps the most well-known person to adopt the paradigm of
cultural differentialism. At the core of this paradigm is the idea that there are differences between
cultures that go beyond globalization and that they are largely unaffected by it. In his book,
Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, Huntington suggests three distinct
phases that have occurred among civilizations. The first phase dates from 1500 BC to AD1500.
During this phase, people were separated by space and time making it rare to ever interact with
each other. When they did it was often violent. The second phase dates from 1500 to the end of
World War II. This phase was characterized by an overwhelming influence of the West on the
rest of the world. It was at this time that the West developed a dominant military force and
became very successful at organized violence. The third phase dates from World War II to
around 1990. Huntington refers to this phase as the multicivilizational system and argues that
during this time we began to see an end to the expansion of the West and the beginning of a
revolt against it. Huntington was especially concerned with the resurgence of two civilizations;
the economic growth of Asian civilizations and the relations between the West and Islam.
Current world affairs would suggest that Huntington was correct in his narrative of recorded
history. I will refer to two different examples to illustrate: China and Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS).
It is common knowledge that China’s economy has been growing steadily for the past
several decades and is projected to become the largest in the world within the next 50 years. This
economic growth has meant that China no longer has to rely on other countries (particularly the
United States) for its survival. When Apple first opened its factory in Shenzhen, China was
economically reliant upon the U.S. This allowed the U.S. to essentially force the government of
China to adhere to our rules even in non-economic areas such as human rights. While the U.S.
2. saw this as universalism, China saw it as imperialism. However, China had no option if they
wanted Apple (with its economic support) to remain in the country. Now that China’s economy
has improved drastically, it is no longer dependent on the U.S. and the roles have reversed. China
is now able to demand that the U.S. follow their rules and codes of ethics.
ISIS is an example of a situation where the relationship between the West and Islam has
gone from one of political power to one of cultural power. In Iraq, Sadam Hussein was able to
keep the country under his control and the control of the Ba’ath party. Since 2003 when U.S.
coalition forces invaded Iraq, and subsequently Sadam’s execution in 2006, the country has not
been able to maintain its solidarity. After Sadam’s capture, the U.S. went into Iraq and tried to
force our democratic beliefs on their country. Again, the U.S. viewed it as universalism but the
Iraqis viewed it as imperialism. There has been continuous fighting in Iraq and the surrounding
regions since the fall of Sadam and today we see it in full force with ISIS. This has become a
cultural war pinning the Suunis against the Shias with no political or economic power able to
stop them. ISIS has been able to infiltrate into the West and we are seeing more and more
“westerners” joining ISIS to fight against the West and what they view as imperialism.
Based on Huntington’s theories of the multicivilizational system, I see the world powers
changing dramatically over the next few decades. I envision China as the dominant economic
power in the world due to their technological advances along with their low wage factories
allowing them to produce and export goods at much lower prices than anyone else. For example,
many of the most popular technologies in the world (Apple, Kindle, Blackberry, Playstation, etc)
are produce and exported out of FoxComm in China. I see Russia as becoming the military
power in the world because they are continuing to increase their forces and their equipment.
3. While the U.S. is getting rid of their tanks and other heavy equipment, Russia continues to build
newer and better ones. I believe the U.S. will also continue to downsize their troops because after
the decade of wars we’ve been involved with, we can longer economically support the level of
troops we currently have. I believe the U.S. will continue to lose its world power for the very
reason that Huntington stated: we will become a multicultural nation with no one majority
culture. As the Hispanic population continues to grow, there will be fighting and discourse
among the whites and Hispanics as well as blacks and Hispanics. There will continue to be
tensions between blacks and whites. Another major group that continues to grow and gain
strength is the LGBT community. We will begin to see discourse between them and the
heterosexual population as well. For this reason, we will not be seen by the rest of the world as a
unified force to contend with. Lastly, I think Islam will continue to gather members and a
growing number of people will come to agree that the West has dominated the rest of the world
for too long and will rise up to fight against us. We are already seeing a growing number of “lone
wolf” attacks being committed by Westerners against Westerners. This number will continue to
grow and the violence will get worse.
In conclusion, I agree wholeheartedly with Huntington in his fears that the U.S. will
continue to decline resulting in a demise of Western civilization. He argues that for the U.S. to
survive, it must do two things: it must reaffirm its identity as a Western nation and it must
reaffirm and reassert its role as leader of the Western world. In order to reaffirm its identity as a
Western nation, it would have to have one dominant culture or civilization and as I mentioned
before, I don’t foresee that happening. There are too many different cultures in our country and
soon there will not be a majority anymore. For the U.S. to reassert its role as leader of the
Western world, we have to be dominant in the areas of economics, politics and military and
4. while we may still be strong in those areas, we are losing ground with no immediate sign of
change to come.