Although the theory seems to have coherent foundations, a great deal of criticism can be raised.
x The major problem concerning terminology is that the definitions of civi-lisation and culture appear in a static way, with little attention paid to dual and multiple identities. Huntington himself attaches importance to the his-torical interconnections and interactions of civilisations, but he fails to note the changes happening to them individually. A major critic of Huntington, Palestinian American literary historian Edward W. Said considers the civi-lisational paradigm unfounded, suggesting that such contrasts and distinc-tions between civilisadistinc-tions are man-made and lack any basis. As Said put it, “Huntington is an ideologist, someone who wants to make ‘civilisations’
and ‘identities’ into what they are not: shut-down, sealed-off entities that
have been purged of the myriad currents and under-currents.” (SAID,ED
-WARD W. 2001).
x Huntington analysed the Islam-West conflicts in multiple studies, provid-ing summary findprovid-ings. Elsewhere he suggests, for example, that fault line wars mostly involve Muslims, the primarily reason being that Muslims are
‘difficult to manage’. (HUNTINGTON,SAMUEL P. 2001 pp. 140‒144). In his view ‘Islam has bloody borders’, partly due to its highly militarised state. Although the empirical finding on large-scale Muslim involvement in fault line wars is hardly arguable, Huntington fails to consider historical context (e.g. deciding state borders along Western interests). His findings on Islam, based partly on Bernard Lewis’s work, are generally arguable.
x Some unscientific critiques fear that the theory might turn into a self-ful-filling prophecy. The terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 seemed to justify Huntington’s views. Huntington himself said that the series of at-tacks carried out by extremist groups should not be interpreted as a civili-sational conflict, although they could easily escalate into one. (So, are civilisations at war? 2001). The explicit goal of the extremist groups (e.g.
Al-Qaeda, Islamic State) is to generate civilisational conflict. Any kind of armed confrontation is fuelled by radicalism.
x It is questionable how novel the theory is; after all, history is about civili-sational conflicts. Think of the wars between Islam and the West in the early eighth century. Also, civilisations comprise nation-states, meaning that clashes ultimately arise out of national, rather than civilisational con-flicts (see the theory of realism). According to Huntington moreover, civi-lisation is not a political category, but a culturally defined concept.
x The theory pays little attention to intracivilisational or intercivilisational conflicts defined not necessarily by civilisational, but economic or other aspects. The civilisational paradigm is unlikely to fit all of the world’s con-flicts.
x Some critics say that the anti-Western alliance between Islam and Confu-cian-Chinese civilisation is not substantiated by the study. Huntington mentions few concrete examples (e.g. ties between China and Pakistan), but it does not lead to the conclusion that alliance between the Islamic world with its over 50 member states and China would be formed.
1.1.8. Summary
Although the so called civilisational paradigm raises numerous criticisms, the theory points out a specific segment of twenty-first century international re-lations that reflects actual processes. Undoubtedly, in international political
rela-tions features such as identity, religion, culture and civilisation are growing in-creasingly important. Think how the current debates on Europe’s migration-refu-gee crisis take on Huntington’s approach. Social media and European politics shifting toward intolerance inevitably contrast Muslim migrants and the Euro-pean majority in a simplistic manner. The civilisational paradigm might help us to understand that the current European crisis phenomena (identity crisis, political crisis, debt crisis) inevitably bring into focus discussions on what European iden-tity actually comprises. At the same time, the multitude of refugees approaching from the Middle East represents an external threat against which we need to pro-tect ourselves.
The ongoing trends concern not only Europe. It is notable, for example, that India’s Hindu nationalist party, the BJP won the 2014 general elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi got caught in the crossfire; as a former Governor of Gujarat state, he played a crucial role in stirring up the Hindu-Muslim conflict.
India has the same debates as Europe. Will India turn against Gandhi’s ‘unity in diversity’ concept and openly build an exclusionary Hindu state based on the logic of Hindu nationalism? Seeking paths to modernisation is a distinctive fea-ture of every civilisation; the civilisational paradigm has undoubtedly pointed out its context. However, it would be wrong to make it an absolute theory, or rather, to bring the Clash of Civilisations thesis into the focus of world politics.
Moreover, the civilisational paradigm helps us understand the different values and concepts upheld by each civilisation. In regard to the latter we should note that some concepts associated with Western modernity, such as democracy, human rights or free market economy, have quite different meanings in non-Western cultures.
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