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Civilization and Civilizations: The West in Context

A polite academic debate proceeded in the 1990s between Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington. According to Fukuyama, the West’s victory over communism indicated that we had reached “the end of history”—liberal democracy now stood as the only political alternative, destined in time to be extended to all mankind. Huntington took a darker view, speculating that future conflicts would occur not between nation-states but between large cultural groupings—a “clash of civilizations.” The terrorist attacks of 9/11 would at first glance seem to have proven Huntington right and Fukuyama wrong, yet America’s democratizing project in Iraq has been justified on largely Fukuyaman grounds.

Perhaps it remains true that liberal democracy really is the “final” form of human political organization and that the Islamists are fighting a rearguard action against irresistible historical tides, their defeat sooner or later a foregone conclusion. But perhaps the present “war on terror” is only the opening skirmish of a civilizational struggle that may last many decades, if not centuries.

Whatever the eventual case, the current conflict calls for a fresh examination of how our own Western civilization relates to, and differs from, other cultures. What is a “civilization” and how does it differ from a “culture”? What is “barbarism” and how do barbarians become “civilized”? What are the unique features of Western civilization—both for good and ill? Is the West truly universal in a way that other civilizations are not, or is this common belief a piece of Western chauvinism which we would be better without? Does the modern technological West represent the culmination or the overcoming of the West’s own historical identity? Is a true dialogue between civilizations possible, and if so on what basis? Is America genuinely a part of the West or does its exceptionalism render it a civilization of its own? This summer, join ISI as we think through some of the most fundamental and urgent questions of our time.

For more information on the Honors Program, please contact John Joseph Shanley at honors@isi.org or (800) 526-7022.

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