The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Huntington expanded a 1993 essay to argue that the end of the Cold War would not bring one global culture, as some predicted. Instead, he said, the most important divisions would be cultural. He identified eight or nine civilizations, including Western, Sinic, Islamic, Hindu, Orthodox and Latin American, and claimed that conflicts would increasingly occur along the borders between them.

He described the West as in relative decline and warned against assuming that its values are universal. Modernization, he argued, does not equal Westernization. He urged the West to preserve its own identity, avoid interfering in other civilizations' affairs and cooperate with the core states of each.

The book was written before September 11, 2001 and, after those attacks, gained new attention. Critics charge that it oversimplifies civilizations and that it underrates conflicts within them.

Why it matters

The thesis shaped debates about foreign policy, immigration and national identity, and it remains a reference for those who argue that culture drives politics. Readers need not accept the framework to profit from the questions it raises.

About the author

Samuel P. Huntington (1927-2008) taught at Harvard for more than five decades and wrote on civil-military relations, political order and American identity. His essay The Clash of Civilizations? appeared in Foreign Affairs in 1993 and drew a large response. His later book Who Are We? discussed the challenge to American identity from immigration.

Who should read it

Readers of foreign policy and international relations.