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 More Quotes by Samuel P. Huntington More Quotes From Samuel P. Huntington Obviously there are divisions within the West and divisions within Islam - there are different sects, different communities, different countries. So neither one is homogenous at all. But they do have things in common. Samuel P. Huntington islam community country Turkey has its own interests and historically, Turkey conquered most of the Arab world, and the Arabs had to fight wars of liberation to free themselves from the Turks. That's in the past and that doesn't necessarily shape what is going on but it's there and it's there in people's memories. Samuel P. Huntington fighting memories war People everywhere talk about Islam and the West. Presumably that has some relationship to reality, that these are entities that have some meaning and they do. Of course the core ofthat reality is differences in religion. Samuel P. Huntington differences reality people Religiosity distinguishes America from most other Western societies. Americans are also overwhelmingly Christian, which distinguishes them from many non-Western peoples. Their religiosity leads Americans to see the world in terms of good and evil to a much greater extent than most other peoples. Samuel P. Huntington christian evil america Iran of course is Shiite, while the bulk of the Arabs are Sunni, that is a problem or could be a problem. Also, there is the simple fact that Iran is non-Arab and most of the Muslims in the Middle East are Arab. Samuel P. Huntington middle-east iran simple I think clearly the United States, as well as other western nations, should stand by their commitments to human rights and democracy and should try to influence other countries to move in that direction. Samuel P. Huntington country commitment moving We really only came around to accepting and integrating the propositional dimension of identity into a concept of ourselves at the time of the American Revolution. Samuel P. Huntington dimensions revolution identity Civilizations evolve over time, and most scholars of civilization, including people like Carol Quigley, argue that they go through periods of warring states, and eventually evolve into a universal state. Samuel P. Huntington arguing civilization people Thus, biologically speaking the American people are literally only half an immigrant people. Samuel P. Huntington half talking people These transnationalists have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite's global operations Samuel P. Huntington loyalty government past And the big question for the West, of course, and to the Europeans is, what other countries, which were formerly part of the Soviet bloc, should be incorporated into western institutions? Samuel P. Huntington west should country U.S. foreign policy is in every area impacted by ethnic groups of one sort or another as well as economic groups and regional groups. Samuel P. Huntington foreign-policy economic groups What are the prospects for an Arab state serving a leading role comparable to the role that other states place in other regions? There is no obvious candidate. Saudi Arabia has the money but a relatively small population. Iraq was a great potential leader, as a sizable country with great oil resources and a highly educated population, but it went off in the wrong direction. Samuel P. Huntington oil iraq country Maybe Iraq will come back and become the dominant power among Arab countries. That seems to me as conceivable. Samuel P. Huntington iraq seems country Fundamentalist tendencies and movements existed, so far as I know, in all societies and civilizations. Samuel P. Huntington tendencies movement civilization I think in theory, the United States finds it much easier to deal with situations where there is a leading country. You can go to the leaders of that country and say, for example, to India, "There are all these problems in Bangladesh, we really have to do something about it, what do you suggest we can do to work out a common policy?" But when you don't have the equivalent of India, you have to go capital to capital trying to put together a coalition, which is extraordinarily difficult, especially in the Arab world, because of the historic rivalries and branches of Islam. Samuel P. Huntington work-out country thinking I don't know what will happen 100 years from now. Samuel P. Huntington knows happens years People have multiple identities. Samuel P. Huntington multiple identity people The basis of association and antagonism among countries has changed over time. Samuel P. Huntington antagonism association country Obviously Muslim societies, like societies elsewhere, are becoming increasingly urban, many are becoming industrial, but since so many have oil and gas, they don't have a great impetus. But again, the revenue that natural resources produce gives them the capability and so countries like Iran are beginning to develop an industrial component. Samuel P. Huntington iran oil country
