The Legacy of Sam Huntington
Essay
World politics is entering a new phase, in which the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of international conflict will be cultural. Civilizations-the highest cultural groupings of people-are differentiated from each other by religion, history, language and tradition. These divisions are deep and increasing in importance. From Yugoslavia to the Middle East to Central Asia, the fault lines of civilizations are the battle lines of the future. In this emerging era of cultural conflict the United States must forge alliances with similar cultures and spread its values wherever possible. With alien civilizations the West must be accommodating if possible, but confrontational if necessary. In the final analysis, however, all civilizations will have to learn to tolerate each other.
Subscribe to Foreign Affairs for $32—and receive The Clash of Civilizations?: The Debate absolutely free. This digital reprint includes Huntington's seminal article plus commentary and criticism that it inspired.
Click here to watch "The Legacy Sam Huntington," a conversation about the life and impact of Samuel Huntington, the preeminent political scientist of the second half of the twentieth century.
Featuring Eliot Cohen, Robert E. Osgood Professor and Director of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Gideon Rose, Editor of Foreign Affairs, and Fareed Zakaria, host of Fareed Zakaria GPS and Editor-at-Large of Time Magazine.
Cosponsored by Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Harvard University Institute of Politics.
