Eurocentrism in Samuel P. Huntington’s Concept of the Clash of Civilisations

The article is dedicated to an issue of Eurocentrism in American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s concept of the clash of civilisations. The arguments presented indicate that Huntington’s concept is pure Eurocentric. I start by mentioning a few of Huntington’s critics (Noam Chomsky, Samir...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mateusz Kufliński
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek 2022-09-01
Series:Polish Political Science Yearbook
Subjects:
Online Access:https://czasopisma.marszalek.com.pl/10-15804/ppsy/1134-ppsy-vol-51/ppsy-51-all/8579-ppsy202220
Description
Summary:The article is dedicated to an issue of Eurocentrism in American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s concept of the clash of civilisations. The arguments presented indicate that Huntington’s concept is pure Eurocentric. I start by mentioning a few of Huntington’s critics (Noam Chomsky, Samir Amin, Arjun Appadurai, and John M. Hobson). The next step includes analysing in detail the “Eurocentrism anatomy” and presenting Eurocentrism as a phenomenon based on two axes, which I call “materialistic” and “epistemological”. In other words, Eurocentrism is a kind of spectrum. Thanks to that, I compare Huntington’s concept with facts from literature embedded in both axes. Apart from other arguments, Eurocentric factors in the clash of civilisations are 1) civilisations in the past, 2) origin of the West, 3) demographic argument, and 4) the downfall of the West. I argue that the clash of civilisations is based on false, Eurocentric assumptions and prejudices.
ISSN:0208-7375