Political Science 2 – Comparative Politics - Spring 2013 - Power Point Presentation #12 - © 2013 Tabakian, Inc.

1. Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 2
Modern World Governments – Fall 2012
Power Point Presentation – November 13th & November 15th

2. COURSE LECTURE TOPICS
This Week’s Lecture Covers:
•Culturalist Approaches & Conflict
Cultural Conflict
American Foreign Policy Shapes The World
Cultural Commonalities Become Strong
Religious Conflicts
The West Versus The Rest

3. CULTURAL CONFLICT (1)
Samuel Huntington argues that a “clash of civilizations” is imminent.
He claims that ever-broadening cultural affinities are replacing
national loyalties. Instead of allegiance to the nation-state, individuals
may be prone to pledging allegiance to a broader association tied into
cultural identity like religion. Intellectuals have failed to address a
crucial aspect of what global politics will look like as it enters into a
new phase. Huntington claims that the new source of conflict will not
be ideologically or economically based, but cultural instead. He
hypothesizes that the new source of conflict will be primarily cultural
and that this will be a primary determinant of future conflicts. Culture
will be a primary determinant for future conflicts. This does not mean
that states will no longer be the most powerful actors in world affairs.
Conflicts will however be between nations and groups representative
of different civilizations. This fact will dominate global politics for "the
fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future”.
This conflict of civilizations will be the last phase of the evolution of
conflict in the modern world.

4. CULTURAL CONFLICT (2)
Samuel P. Huntington defines a civilization according to its cultural
entity "villages, regions, ethnic groups, nationalities, religious groups,
all have distinct cultures at different levels of cultural heterogeneity...A
civilization is thus the highest cultural grouping of people and the
broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which
distinguishes humans from other species. It is defined both by
common objective elements, such as language, history, religion,
customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of
people." Huntington argues that people can refine their identities,
resulting in their identification being redefined and the composition
and boundaries of civilization. Civilizations can blend or even overlap.
The can also encompass include subcivilizations. Samuel P. Hunting
states, "Civilizations are nonetheless meaningful entities, and while
the lines between them are seldom sharp, they are real. Civilizations
are dynamic; they rise and fall; they divide and merge. And as any
student of history knows, civilizations disappear and are buried in the
sands of time".

5. CULTURE – AMERICAN FOREIGN
POLICY SHAPING THE WORLD (1)
Samuel P. Huntington infers that the world will be shaped through the
continuing interaction of seven or eight major civilizations: Western,
Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox Latin American
and maybe even African civilization. Future conflicts will instigate
along the cultural fault lines that border these civilizations from one
another. There are six reasons why this will happen:
1. Civilizations possess different makeups with each respective
foundations formed by history, language, culture, tradition and
what Huntington stresses as the most important, religion.
2. With the decreasing size of the world these different civilizations
are increasingly interacting with one another. This increase of
interaction raises the self-awareness of each respective
civilization and what makes them different from other civilizations
and commonalities.

6. CULTURE – AMERICAN FOREIGN
POLICY SHAPING THE WORLD (2)
3. Continued economic modernization and the homogenization of
social norms continue to spread throughout the farthest regions of
the world. This serves to dislodge people from longstanding local
identities, including the weakening of the nation state as one
source of this identification. George Weigel has commented on
the "unsecularization of the world" as being "...one of the
dominant social facts of life in the late twentieth century.“
4. Fourth, the West is at the peak of its power and this has spurred
the revitalization of civilization-consciousness. Western
dominance has spurred non-Western civilizations to strike back in
an effort to preserve their identities. This means that other
civilizations are rising to alter the cultural traditions of the West in
order to survive themselves. This is referred to as a return to the
roots phenomenon.

7. CULTURE – AMERICAN FOREIGN
POLICY SHAPING THE WORLD (3)
5. Political and economic differences are more easily rectified or
mutable that cultural characteristics and differences.
6. There is a strong push towards economic regionalism.
Samuel P. Huntington cites statistics that describe this phenomenon
"total trade that were intraregional rose between 1980 and 1989 from
51% in Europe, 33% to 37& in East Asia, and 32% to 36% in North
America. The importance of regional economic blocs is likely to
continue to increase in the future". There are two points that have to
be relayed with the first being that it will serve to reinforce civilization-
consciousness. The second point is that economic-regionalist can
only succeed when it is rooted in a common civilization.

8. CULTURAL COMMONALITIES BECOME
STRONG (1)
Cultural commonalities are becoming stronger following the end of the
Cold War. Murray Weidenbaum gives an example of this effect on the
East Asian economic bloc. "Despite the current Japanese dominance
of the region, the Chinese-based economy of Asia is rapidly emerging
as a new epicenter for industry, commerce and finance. This strategic
area contains substantial amounts of technology and manufacturing
capability (Taiwan), outstanding entrepreneurial, marketing and
service acumen (Hong Kong), a fine communications network
(Singapore), a tremendous pool of financial capital (all three) and very
large endowments of land, resources, and labor (mainland
China)...From Guangzhou to Singapore, from Kuala Lumpur to
Manila, this influential network - often based on extensions of the
traditional clans - has been described as the backbone of the East
Asian economy." The European Community continues to resist
including non-Arab-Muslim countries into its fold, thus encouraging
them to create the Economic Cooperation Organization.

9. CULTURAL COMMONALITIES BECOME
STRONG (2)
There are ten countries: Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and
Afghanistan. Samuel P. Huntington argues that the clash of
civilizations occurs at two levels: at the micro-level and the macro-
level. At the micro-level, adjacent groups residing along the fault lines
between civilizations battle one another over the control of territory as
well as each other. At the macro-level, states possessing different
civilizations compete for military and economic superiority as well as
fight over control of international institutions and third parties, all while
promoting their respective political and religious values. Samuel P.
Huntington argues that as many of the Arab countries continue to
make strides toward economic and social development that autocratic
forms of government may be discarded. Democracy taking root in
these countries does not necessarily mean that it will foster friendly
relations with the West. It may instead foster Islamist movements or in
other words, strengthen anti-Western political forces.

10. CULTURAL COMMONALITIES BECOME
STRONG (3)
Samuel Huntington stresses that this may be temporary, but we
cannot be certain as of yet. M.J. Akbar argues that the next
confrontation that the West is going to have to confront is one coming
from the Muslim world, "It is in the sweep of the Islamic nations from
the Maghreb to Pakistan that the struggle for a new world order will
begin." Bernard Lewis reaches a similar conclusion, "We are facing a
mood and a movement far transcending the level of issues and
policies and the governments that pursue them. This is no less than a
clash of civilizations - the perhaps irrational but surely historic reaction
of an ancient rival against our Judeo-Christian heritage, our secular
present, and the world-wide expansion of both."

11. CULTURE – RELIGIOUS CONFLICT (1)
Religion stimulates ethnic identifications. It also arouses Russian
fears over the security of its southern borders. Archie Roosevelt
details this concern: "Much of Russian history concerns the struggle
between the Slavs and the Turkic peoples on their borders, which
dates back to the foundation of the Russian state more than a
thousand years ago. In the Slavs' millennium-long confrontation with
their eastern neighbors lies the key to an understanding not only of
Russian history, but Russian character. To understand Russian
realities today one has to have a concept of the great Turkic ethnic
group that has preoccupied Russians through the centuries." Kenneth
Waltz insists that sovereign states with fixed borders are the best way
to maintain the peace domestically. When a state is no longer
competent it may fall into a state of disrepair with separate territories
breaking apart becoming autonomous, but unable to correlate to
transnational developments.

12. CULTURE – RELIGIOUS CONFLICT (2)
States try to rally support from other states belonging to the same
culture when they are involved in a war with people from another
civilization. H.D.S. Greenway calls this the "kin-country" syndrome.
This terminology replaces political ideology and traditional balance of
power as the principal basis for cooperation and coalitions. Post-Cold
War conflicts like those in the Persian Gulf, the Caucasus and Bosnia
involved elements of civilization rallying. First, the 1991 Persian Gulf
War begun as a result of one Arab state invading a neighbor Arab
state. This later evolved into Iraq facing a coalition of Arab, Western,
and other states. Truth be told that while only a few Muslim
governments supported Saddam Hussein, a lot of Arab elites privately
offered their moral support. Second, Armenian military successes in
1992 and 1993 swayed Turkey to increase its support of Azerbaijan.

13. CULTURE – RELIGIOUS CONFLICT (3)
The Soviet Union originally supported Azerbaijan as the republic was
dominated with communist leaders. The collapse of the Soviet Union
led to a reversal of Russian policy as it shifted support to Armenia due
to a change of concern from political considerations to religious ones.
Third, Western public may have shown sympathy for the Bosnian
Muslims over their suffering from Serbs, but little concern was given to
Croatian attacks on Muslims. Samuel P. Huntington lists three
requirements a torn country must meet before it can redefine its
civilization identity. First, the country's economic and political elites
have to enthusiastically endorse the transition. Second, its public has
to endorse whatever new definition is adopted. Third, dominant
groups in the recipient civilization have to embrace the convert.

14. CULTURE
THE WEST VERSUS THE REST (1)
Samuel P. Huntington stresses that civilization-consciousness is
increasing and that global politics will be focused on "the West and
the Rest". This applies to conflicts between the Western powers,
especially the United States, against "others". However, Huntington
stresses that the first conflict(s) will be between the West and several
Islamic-Confucian states. He further argues that the West should
strive towards greater cooperation among its members while
promoting further incorporating into the West those societies in
Eastern Europe and Latin America whose cultures are more
adaptable.

15. CULTURE
THE WEST VERSUS THE REST (2)
The West should also coordinate its relations with Russia and Japan;
prevent minor conflicts from developing into major inter-civilization
wars; limit the military capacity of Confucian and Islamic states; resist
drastic reductions in Western military capabilities and maintain military
superiority in the East and Southwest Asia; exploit differences and
conflicts that exist between Confucian and Islamic states; support
those civilizations and their respective groups that admire Western
values and interests; bolster those international institutions that reflect
and legitimize Western interests and values and encourage non-
Western states to participate in these institutions. Many non-Western
states have pursued a goal of modernization without becoming
Western.

16. CULTURE
THE WEST VERSUS THE REST (3)
Japan is the only country that has succeeded. Samuel P. Huntington
infers that the West has to maintain its economic and military strength
to protect its interests against any possible threats from alien
civilizations. The fact is that the world will consist of various
civilizations and each has to find some way to coexist with one
another. This is why Huntington stresses the need for the West to
further develop a better understanding of the underlying fundamentals
of counter religious and philosophical beliefs in order to discover and
exploit those areas of commonality. This will enable the West to better
understand how those people in different civilizations identify their
interests.