Tommy D’s Reviews > The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order > Status Update

The West struggles to impose its values on other societies as other societies become more powerful and assert themselves.

The West will likely have more success with Latin American and Southern African countries due to similar religious affiliations and culture comparative to Islam and Asian civilizations.

Ukraine and Taiwan fall along the fault lines of civilizations. Ukraine is stuck between being Western and Russian in terms of civilizations.

Countries used to identify with ideology. This allowed them, regardless of location to choose sides. The question was, “whose side are you on?” Now, countries increasingly identify with at civilizational levels. The question is, “who are you?” Equally important is the hatred of those different from us. As modernization comes, universalization does not necessarily tag along.

Huntington focused on how the relative power of the West is declining. He used two major and presently occurring events to justify this. Firstly, he used what he dubbed the “Asian Affirmation.” East Asian countries are rapidly expanding economically and socially. The “Islamic Resurgence” is evidence that Muslim power relative to the West will continue to grow.

As the world becomes increasingly modernized, many intellectuals assumed religion would fade. The opposite is true. Across the world, religious revivalism occurred as countries became more modern. This is especially true for nations who have strong historic religious roots but went through periods of atheism or passive religious practice.

Modernization and westernization are not inherently intertwined. Different societies and civilizations have different approaches to westernization and modernization. Such approaches are rejectionist, Kemalism, and reformist.

Huntington has focused on the history of civilizations, primarily focusing on Western civilization and how it differs from other non-Western peoples and civilizations.

The principle driving force of any state action is its civilizational belonging. Western states act in accordance with western interests. Right now, the world can be divided into the one West and the non-Western many.