Foreign Affairs Anthology Series

The Clash of Civilizations?

The Debate: Twentieth Anniversary Edition

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Table of Contents

Politics & Society Summer 1993 Essay

The Clash of Civilizations?

Samuel Huntington argues in his landmark essay that after the Cold War, conflicts over cultural and religious identity will dominate global politics.

Samuel P. Huntington

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey transits the South China Sea, May 2017.

Political Development September/October 1993 Comment

The Summoning

In the "Clash of Civilizations," Huntington gives too much weight to cultural differences while underestimating the tenacity of modernity and secularism and the power...

Fouad Ajami

Palestinians take a selfie in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, July 2015.

Theory September/October 1993 Comment

The Dangers of Decadence: What the Rest Can Teach the West

To the newly advancing Asian world, the West's huffing and puffing about democracy sounds like the swan song of a sinking civilization.

Kishore Mahbubani

Asia - Foreign Affairs

Media September/October 1993 Essay

The Case for Optimism: The West Should Believe in Itself

The 20th century is over, and liberalism is again on the march. Hope makes more sense than fin de siecle angst.

Robert L. Bartley

Media - Foreign Affairs

Politics & Society September/October 1993 Essay

Civilization Grafting: No Culture is an Island

Confucian and Western civilizations are less yin and yang than ingredients to be combined.

Liu Binyan

Politics Society - Foreign Affairs

Theory September/October 1993 Response

The Modernizing Imperative: Tradition and Change

The steady drumbeat of modernity will force civilization to change. Also, responses from Albert L. Weeks and Gerard Piel.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

United States - Foreign Affairs

Theory September/October 1993 Response

Do Civilizations Hold?

The steady drumbeat of modernity will force civilization to change. Also, responses from Albert L. Weeks and Gerard Piel.

Albert L. Weeks

United States - Foreign Affairs

Theory September/October 1993 Response

The West Is Best

The steady drumbeat of modernity will force civilization to change. Also, responses from Albert L. Weeks and Gerard Piel.

Gerard Piel

United States - Foreign Affairs

Politics & Society November/December 1993 Response

If Not Civilizations, What? Samuel Huntington Responds to His Critics

It's all very well to point to scattered events that the "civilizations" paradigm does not explain. But there is still no better framework with which to understand the...

Samuel P. Huntington

Security November/December 2010 Review Essay

Conflict or Cooperation?

After the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington, and John Mearsheimer each presented a bold vision of what the driving forces of world politics would be. The...

Richard K. Betts

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