Stage Setter

1. Critique of the author's thesis Huntington's Thesis is "The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great division among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural."1 Huntington supports his thesis by looking decades into the history of civilizations and analyzes conflicts between cultural groups. His thesis ranges from small villages to the construct of civilizations. He believes the differences between societies are so fundamentally different that the gaps in understanding, respect and ultimately acceptance of different cultures are so great that civilizations will constantly continue to clash. To say I'm an expert on many of Huntington's theories would be a great understatement but at the conclusion of my initial read I found his article to be dated and honestly somewhat ignorant. His theories reminded me of articles I read years ago in college from great anthropologist who studied ancient cultures and civilizations that disappeared centuries ago. I believe Huntington, in the development of this thesis did not weigh heavily enough the compounding gains cultures and societies have made in just the last 50 years. Are we truly destined to be forever trapped in a vicious cycle of a society that will inevitability fight? I don't think so. I firmly believe as each year passes "WE" become smarter and more connected. We as a global civilization can now instantly connect to each other and for the first time in history immediately and accurately understand the world we live in. This connection is what's going to pull our societies closer than any time in our history.

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1 Huntington,

Samual P. “The Clash of Civilizations?” FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1993:99, 100

2. Critique of the author's main argument. Whether I agree or disagree with Huntington's article about the Clash of Civilizations is immaterial. I’ve stated previously in this response and...