Huntington's clash of civilization between the West and Islam : a critique and an alternative

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to scientifically deconstruct Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilization discourse through a critique of its ideology and relate its political deployment after the Cold War within that specific phase in the development of capitalism gone global. In lieu of the fact that the Clash of Civilizations theory ideologically elevates tolerance between cultures to an ontological status, as the ultimate virtue and principle upon which cultural conflicts maybe managed, the main focus of my critique will be to critique tolerance as it applies to Huntington's Clash of Civilizations theory. I therefore embark on an extensive historical, philosophical and political analysis of tolerance to show that with Huntington it is nothing more than a discourse of naked imperialism. Simply put, the purpose of this dissertation will be to contextualize the unwarranted success of the Clash of Civilization thesis, in which Islam is seen as source of conflict in the world and main the enemy of a civilized Christian West, within a larger global situation. A situation in which the Clash of Civilization theory will be shown to be as nothing more than an instrument in the hands of American imperialism, locked in an inter-imperial struggle in which the control of the Middle Eastern oil and its Muslim population is the ultimate objective.