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International Journal of Political Science and Development |
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International Journal of Political Science and Development Vol. 1(2), pp. 42–104, October, DOI: 10.14662/IJPSD2013.005 Full Length Research Paper A ‘NON WESTERN’ READING OF THE ‘CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS’ THEORY: Through the Eyes of ‘The Rest’
Memoona Sajjad
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
E-mail:
meem.seen@gmail.com
The Clash of
Civilizations theory is thoroughly rooted in its context, which
makes it a post Cold War paradigm vindicating post Cold War American
foreign policy. Huntington’s thought falls exactly in line with the
repertoire of Orientalist discourse in the West. His assumptions are
drawn from secondary sources, are reductionist and simplistic. The
real agenda underlying the thesis presented by Huntington is
perpetuating Western dominance and hegemony on the globe through the
creation of a new enemy and the generation of fear and hatred
against it in the public mind. The ‘Clash’ theory fits well with the
growing needs of America’s powerful and expansive
military-industrial complex defined by its Capitalist ideology. The
rhetoric of the Clash of Civilizations works well to disguise the
geopolitical and strategic interests of the West in the Muslim
world. ‘The West and the Rest’ is an artificial construct based on
historical fallacies and sharpening cleavages in order to maintain a
‘wartime status’ in the Western mind. Western policy and rhetoric
after September 11 seems to have officially adopted the Clash of
Civilizations theory. Islamophobia in the West has gone mainstream
and has generated an understandably militant response from the
Muslim world. This creates a vicious cycle of hostility breeding
conflict. If the trend continues, the Clash of Civilizations might
become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Both the Orient and the West need
to actively pursue ways to prevent such a disastrous eventuality.
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