A synopsis of the book
The book “The Clash of Civilizations and the remaking of the World Order” by Hutington, S.P gives an insight on how the West won the world. In this the author states that 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 (Huntington, 1996 p. 51). Huntington further states that, Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do (Huntington, 1996 p. 51).The author in this book attempts to give explanation of how the west used force to rise. This is due to the fact that military balance between the Europeans and their adversaries overseas was steadily tilting in favor of the former.
My thesis of this book is that the key to the Westerners’ success in creating the first truly global empires depended upon precisely those improvements in the ability to wage war (Huntington, 1996 p. 51). This is because that the expansion of the West was enhanced by the superiority in organization, discipline, and training of its troops and subsequently by the superior weapons, transport, logistics, and medical services resulting from its leadership in the Industrial Revolution(Huntington, 1996 p. 52). The book gives an outlook on how the western power is fading in relation to non-westerners in respect to Power, Culture, and Indigenization.
Professor Huntington’s thesis concerning the clash of civilizations and the new world order after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
In his thesis concerning the clash of civilizations and the new world order after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 Professor Huntington states that two pictures exist of the power of the West in relation to other civilizations (Huntington, 1996 p. 56). The first picture of western power is that of devastating, conquering, nearly total Western dominance.
The disintegration of the Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 removed the only serious challenger to the West and as a result the world is and will be shaped by the goals, priorities, and interests of the principal Western nations, with perhaps an occasional assist from Japan (Huntington, 1996 p. 67).
As the one remaining superpower, the United States together with Britain and France make the crucial decisions on political and security issues; the United States together with Germany and Japan make the crucial decisions on economic issues. The West is the only civilization which has substantial interests in every other civilization or region and has the ability to affect the politics, economics, and security of every other civilization or region. Societies from other civilizations usually need Western help to achieve their goals and protect their interests (Huntington, 1996 p. 81).
Professor Huntington states that Western nations own and operate the international banking system, control all hard currencies, are the world’s principal customer, Provide the majority of the world’s finished good, dominate international capital market, exert considerable moral leadership within many societies, are capable of massive military intervention ,control the sea lanes, conduct most advanced technical research and development, control leading edge technical education, dominate access to space, dominate the aerospace industry, dominate international communications and dominate the high-tech weapons industry (Huntington, 1996 p. 83).
The author in the same vein perceives the West differently. Professor Huntington, in this work says that west is of a civilization in decline, its share of world political, economic, and military power going down relative to that of other civilizations (Huntington, 1996 p. 112). The West’s victory in the Cold War has produced not triumph but exhaustion (Huntington, 1996 p. 112). Here, he points out that the West is increasingly concerned with its internal problems and needs, as it confronts slow economic growth, stagnating populations, unemployment, huge government deficits, a declining work ethic, low savings rates, and in many countries including the United States social disintegration, drugs, and crime (Huntington, 1996 p. 89).
Huntington is of the view that, economic strength is rapidly shifting to East Asia, and military power and political influence are starting to follow (Huntington, 1996 p. 91). He further states that, India is on the verge of economic takeoff and the Islamic world is increasingly hostile toward the West. The author argues that, the willingness of other societies to accept the West’s dictates or abide its sermons is rapidly evaporating, and so is the West’s self-confidence and will to dominate (Huntington, 1996 p. 91).
Reviewed studies indicate that, the late 1980s witnessed much debate about the decline thesis concerning the US, in the mid-1990s; a balanced analysis came to a somewhat similar conclusion (Huntington, 1996 p. 91)
In various significant aspects, the author argues that the western relative power will decline at an increasing pace. In terms of its raw economic capabilities, the standing of the western in relation to Japan and eventually China is likely to erode still further (Huntington, 1996 p. 111). In the military realm, the balance of effective capabilities between the western and a number of growing regional powers including, perhaps, Iran, India, and China will shift from the center toward the periphery (Huntington, 1996 p. 111). To the end, some of western’s structural power will flow to other nations; some will find its way into the hands of non-state actors like multinational corporations (Huntington, 1996 p. 81).
Professor Huntington argues that, the West is overwhelmingly dominant now and will remain number one in terms of power and influence well into the twenty-first century (Huntington, 1996 p. 84). In the same vein, he argues that, gradual, inexorable, and fundamental changes, however, are also occurring in the balances of power among civilizations, and the power of the West relative to that of other civilizations will continue to decline (Huntington, 1996 p. 85).
Here, he states that, as the West’s primacy erodes, much of its power will simply evaporate and the rest will be diffused on a regional basis among the several major civilizations and their core states (Huntington, 1996 p. 85). The most important increases military power are accruing and will accrue to Asian civilizations, with China gradually emerging as the society most likely to challenge the West for global influence (Huntington, 1996 p. 87). These shifts in power among civilizations are leading and will lead to the revival and increased cultural assertiveness of non-Western societies and to their increasing rejection of Western culture (Huntington, 1996 p. 89).
Professor Huntington argues that, the decline of the West has three major features. First, it is a slow process (Huntington, 1996 p. 81). The rise of Western power took four hundred years and thereby its recession could take as long. This is because economic advancement and other increases in a country’s capabilities often proceed along an S curve (Huntington, 1996 p. 85). This is to say that, it may take the form of a slow start then rapid acceleration followed by reduced rates of expansion and leveling off (Huntington, 1996 p. 87). The decline of countries may also occur along a reverse S curve, as it did with the Soviet Union (Huntington, 1996 p. 88).
Implying that, it can be moderate at first then rapidly accelerating before bottoming out. The decline of the West is still in the slow first phase, but at some point it might speed up dramatically (Huntington, 1996 p. 85).
The author secondly argues that, decline does not proceed in a straight line (Huntington, 1996 p.94). It is highly irregular with pauses, reversals, and reassertions of Western power following manifestations of Western weakness (Huntington, 1996 p. 88). The open democratic societies of the West have great capacities for renewal and unlike many civilizations; the West has had two major centers of power (Huntington, 1996 p. 88).
The third reason for the decline of west is aspect of power; power is the ability of one person or group to change the behavior of another person or group (Huntington, 1996 p. 94). Behavior may be changed through inducement, coercion, or exhortation, which requires the power-wielder to have economic, military, institutional, demographic, political, technological, social, or other resources (Huntington, 1996 p. 94). The power of a state or group is hence normally estimated by measuring the resources it has at its disposal against those of the other states or groups ~t is trying to influence (Huntington, 1996 p. 94). The West’s share of most, but not all, of the important power resources peaked early in the twentieth century and then began to decline relative to those of other civilizations (Huntington, 1996 p. 112).
Conclusion
Western universal is dangerous to the world because it could lead to a major inter civilization war between core states and it is dangerous to the West because it could lead to defeat of the West (Huntington, 1996 p. 113). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Westerners see their civilization in a position of unparalleled dominance, while at the same time weaker Asian, Muslim, and other societies are beginning to gain strength (Huntington, 1996 p. 113).
All civilizations go though similar processes of emergence, rise, and decline (Huntington, 1996 p. 81). The West differs from other civilizations not in the way it has developed but in the distinctive character of its values and institutions (Huntington, 1996 p. 121).The principal responsibility of Western leaders, consequently, is not to attempt to reshape other civilizations military, the image of the West, which is beyond their declining power, but to preserve, protect, and renew the unique qualities of Western civilization (Huntington, 1996 p. 121)).
References
Hutington, S.P. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the remaking of the World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN13:978-0-684-84441-1.