From modernization theory towards the ‘clash of civilizations’: directions and paradigm shifts in Samuel Huntington's analysis and prognosis of global development1

Abstract

This paper critically discusses Samuel Huntington's contribution to development studies. Long before his currently debated work on the clash of civilizations, Huntington wrote on the political order in changing societies. In this highly influential book of the late 1960s he argued on the basis of modernization theory for strong governments to accompany the inevitable and universal process of modernization. His clash of civilizations seems to argue from different assumptions. It insists on the essential differences between cultures based on religion. These cultural differences would now give rise to the most important conflict constellations. In his earlier and later work Huntington insists on the primacy of Western values and the need to defend them. The author critiques the assumptions, concepts and some of the empirical evidence of Huntingtons recent study.