A Study on Samuel P. Huntington and Edward W. Said Erdem Kilic

Essay by ErdemKUUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, March 2004

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In this study, ideas of two great thinkers who affected the thoughts of Western world will be discussed. At first, you will find a summary of 'The Fault Lines Between Civilizations' by Samuel P. Huntington and then a comparative study of Samuel P. Huntington's and Edward W. Said's thoughts. The article entitled 'The Clash of Ignorance' by Edward W. Said will be used as the basic source of Said's thoughts. Finally, I will make my own analysis of these ideas.

In his article entitled 'The Fault Lines Between Civilizations', Samuel P. Huntington claims that cultural differences between civilizations will be the reasons for international conflicts in the future. Huntington states that cultural boundaries replaced the ideological and political boundaries of civilizations within Europe after the fall of communism.

Conflict between the Islamic and Western civilizations exists for centuries. During the flow of history, the superiority has changed hands many times.

After World War II, the world witnessed the rise of Arab nationalism and the manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism as well as the withdrawal of the West from the Middle East, but West's dependence on the Persian Gulf countries for oil caused new conflicts in the region.

Huntington sees this centuries-long military interaction between the West and Islam as becoming more hateful in the coming decades. According to Huntington, the effect of Western democracy in Arabic countries reinforces anti-Western political forces, thus it causes difficulties in relations between the Islamic and Western countries.

Fabulous changes in the demographic balances in Arab world also made matters worse in international relations. Racist movements started in Western Europe. Arab and Turkish migrants were exposed to political reactions and violence. Huntington alleges that interaction between the Islamic and Western civilizations is in fact a clash of civilizations.

In the article Huntington points out...