Countries will cooperate with each other, and are more likely to cooperate with each other when they share a common culture, as is most dramatically illustrated in the European Union. But other groupings of countries are emerging in East Asia and in South America. Basically, as I said, these politics will be oriented around, in large part, cultural similarities and cultural antagonism.

Samuel P. Huntington

Categorized in : America Country East

The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion […] but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.

Samuel P. Huntington

tyrants winning war

Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards. The fundamental problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilisation whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power.

Samuel P. Huntington

islamic culture people

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new [post-Cold-War] world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

Samuel P. Huntington

powerful war civilization

Expectations should not always be taken as reality; because you never know when you will be disappointed.

Samuel P. Huntington

taken expectations reality

The question really is what will be the central focus of global politics in the coming decades and my argument is that cultural identities and cultural antagonisms and affiliations will play not the only role but a major role.

Samuel P. Huntington

focus identity play

Critics say that America is a lie because its reality falls so far short of its ideals. They are wrong. America is not a lie; it is a disappointment. But it can be a disappointment only because it is also a hope.

Samuel P. Huntington

disappointment lying fall

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

Samuel P. Huntington

partial-truth insidious half

Power remains strong when it remains in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate.

Samuel P. Huntington

sunlight strong dark

But then I came to the conclusion that no, while there may be an immigration problem, it isn't really a serious problem. The really serious problem is assimilation.

Samuel P. Huntington

immigration serious may

Nationalism is a central ideology for people who are trying to establish their own states in which they can play a dominant role.

Samuel P. Huntington

play trying people

The relations between countries in the coming decade are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries.

Samuel P. Huntington

ties country commitment

Democracy is premised, in some measure, on majority rule, and democracy is difficult in a situation of concentrated inequalities in which a large, impoverished majority confronts a small, wealthy oligarchy.

Samuel P. Huntington

oligarchy majority-rule democracy

Many more people in the world are concerned about sports than human rights.

Samuel P. Huntington

rights sports people

I think fundamentalism is this radical attitude toward one's own identity and civilization as compared to other people's identities and cultures.

Samuel P. Huntington

attitude civilization thinking

In the coming decades, questions of identity, meaning cultural heritage, language, and religion will play a central role in politics.

Samuel P. Huntington

roles identity play

Some Westerners […] have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise.

Samuel P. Huntington

islam doe years

Global politics remains extremely complex and countries have different interests, which will also lead them to make what might seem as rather bizarre friends and allies.

Samuel P. Huntington

allies different country

Hispanics speak Spanish or Portuguese, which are languages we Americans are familiar with, so it doesn't seem to pose the same types of problems as Arabic-speaking Muslims do in Europe.

Samuel P. Huntington

language problem europe

Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.

Samuel P. Huntington

writing drama civilization

The argument now that the spread of pop culture and consumer goods around the world represents the triumph of Western civilization trivializes Western culture. The essence of Western civilization is the Magna Carta, not the Magna Mac. The fact that non-Westerners may bite into the latter has no implications for their accepting the former.

Samuel P. Huntington

essence civilization culture