U.S.
$26.00
Can.
$35.00
I
n the summer of 1993 Foreign Affairs published
an article entitled "The Clash of Civilizations?"
by Samuel Huntington. No article, according to
the editors of that distinguished journal, has gen-
erated more discussion since George Kennan's
"X"
article on containment in the 1940s. Now,
Mr. Huntington expands on his article, explores
further the issues he raised then, and develops
many new penetrating and controversial analyses.
In the article, he posed the question whether con-
flicts between civilizations would dominate the
future of world politics. In the book, he gives his
answer, showing not only how clashes between
civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace
but also how an international order based on civi-
lizations is the best safeguard against war.
Events in the past few years have confirmed
Mr. Huntington's earlier judgments. Increasingly,
people define themselves on the basis of ancestry,
language, religion, and customs. Today, in the
post-Cold War world, the critical distinctions
between people are not primarily ideological or
economic; they are cultural. World politics is
being reconfigured along cultural lines, with new
patterns of conflict and cooperation replacing
those of the Cold War. The hot spots in world pol-
itics are on the "fault lines" between civilizations:
witness the fighting in Bosnia, Chechnya, the
Transcaucasus, Central Asia, Kashmir, the Middle
East, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and many other
places.
Mr. Huntington explains how the population
explosion in Muslim countries and the economic
rise of East Asia are changing global politics.
These developments challenge Western domi-
nance, promote opposition to supposedly "univer-
sal"
Western ideals, and intensify intercivilization
(continued on back flap)
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