Huntington explained vast conflicts from essentialized, unchanging cultural differences.

Evidence

We have only to examine the premises of Samuel P. Huntington’s widely cited book Clash of Civilizations to see the importance of the notion of culture clash to the contemporary making of empire. Huntington argued that the primary source of conflict in the world today is the cultural difference between the West and non-West, a culture clash in which Islam figures prominently as the antithesis of Western civilization. People who are alike culturally cooperate with each other; dislike or fear of the foreigner and accompanying feelings of superiority are present in all cultures. From such simple premises, Huntington explains a wide range of complex phenomena such as the Rwandan genocide, the massacre of Muslims in Bosnia, and the triumph of political Islam. Islam has been at war with the West for fourteen hundred years, a conflict that flows from the two civilizations’ differences, he declares. For Huntington, cultures are distinct entities with values and practices that form an unchanging essence. Indeed, he explicitly rejects historicizing. ‘The causes of this ongoing pattern of conflict lie not in transitory phenomena such as twelfth-century Christian passion or twentieth-century Muslim fundamentalism. They flow from the nature of the two religions and the civilizations based on them.’ — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 208 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Post-Cold War conflict was framed by Huntington as civilizational cultural clash — Sarah Bracke and Luis Manuel Hernández Aguilar, “They Love Death as We Love Life”: The…, 174; Huntington attributes complex world conflicts to unchanging civilizational essences — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 208; Huntington repackaged Orientalist binaries into a new lexicon of civilizational clash. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 229 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Huntington attributes complex world conflicts to unchanging civilizational essences #expands (0.97) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 208