NEW EASTERN OUTLOOK 🌐 (@NEO_Journal)

🌎🎉Huntington and the Specter of Civilizations ➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿ At a time when the global order is in a state of flux, the 30th anniversary of the renowned yet controversial book The Clash of Civilizations & the Remaking of the World Order becomes a fitting moment for taking stock of things. Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" thesis argued that the Cold War's end marked the triumph of liberal democracy globally. Samuel Huntington sought to address this irrational exuberance. ✏️Pranay Kumar Shome is a research analyst and PhD candidate at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India. ➡️Huntington argued the post-Cold War period would see conflicts shaped less by ideology and more by cultural factors, with religion playing a definite role. He divided the world into distinct civilisational blocs—Islamic, Sinic, Hindu, African, Western, and Orthodox—positing two forms of conflict: fault-line conflicts (intra-civilisational) and macro-level conflicts (among civilisations). However, Huntington was scathing in his indictment of Western arrogance. He asserted that the West is dominant not because of the appeal of its ideas and institutions, but because it is adept in the monopoly exercise of violence. One thing that stands out is how the West conveniently forgot Huntington's warnings about its self-serving behaviour and how the West has come to bear the consequences of its imperious behaviour. ➡️High on "ideological success" and hell-bent on moulding the world in its own image, the West paid the price—Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Kosovo, and Syria all suffered thanks to the America-led West's democracy spreading obsession. Today, the world is witnessing this madness unfold in Iran, where America is trying to topple a legitimately elected government. Huntington warned that civilisations decay from within long before succumbing to external pressure—particularly apt in the context of the West's ongoing decline: political polarization, culture wars, and a widening rift between governing elites and common masses. 🟦No theory is without flaws. Even as he railed against the West's hubris, his belief that intra- and inter-civilisational differences would inevitably degenerate into fault line conflict has proven false. We have witnessed the rise of civilisational states not merely as cultural entities but as concrete political actors—Russia, China, India collaborating in BRICS, SCO, and UNFCCC. Diversity is not a problem—the problem is the mentality that considers diversity to be an issue. Intra- and inter-civilisational diversities are supposed to reflect the beauty of humankind, not confine it into airtight cultural compartments. Huntington's formulation may be true to a certain degree and false in others, yet one thing stands out: how the West conveniently forgot Huntington's warnings about its self-serving behaviour and how it has come to bear the consequences of its imperious behaviour. READ MORE #Huntington #ClashOfCivilizations #Geopolitics #West #MultipolarWorld #GlobalSouth ✅@NewEasternOutlook