Cultural divergence: Myth or reality

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Cultural divergence: Myth or reality
M Omar Iftikhar

Civilization is a versatile social order characterized by an advanced infrastructure, urbanism, occupational specialization and class stratification. In simple words, a civilization is a cultural entity, where every country and nation has a different culture. People living in USA and England both speak English, both have a set of values and principles which may not be too disparate, but they certainly have a diverse cultural background. Similarly, the European communities have cultural elements distinguishing them from Chinese or Far Eastern communities. Civilizations have inhabited the world for centuries and when members of these civilizations pursued travelling and trade endeavors, they interacted with other civilizations; as views were exchanged and beliefs were constructed, therefore, scuffle in opinions was certain.

The idea of Clash of Civilization was first presented in 1966 by Samuel Phillips Huntington, an American political scientist. Huntington discussed how the post-Cold War era altered the global political system, engaging civilizations in a conflict with each other. With the Cold War ending in 1991, world politics gave origins to a new wave of political principles. With the Cold War reaching its climax, it also disintegrated U.S.S.R’s preeminence as USA emerged as the solitary superpower on the global forefront. According to the proposition discussed in Clash of Civilizations, the nature of conflict in this new world, the world in the post-Cold War era, will be based on cultures instead of economics.

Still the question remains, what factors will result in the Clash of Civilizations? First, these cultural differences are basic in nature. Civilizations are characterized on the basis of language, culture, religion, history and tradition; where history is most significant. In the same way, cultures and societies are separated on the basis of societal values, family ties, business practices, relationship between God and humans, state and the citizen, authority and liberty, rights and responsibilities. These elements are firmly integrated in any culture than political views. Second, in the recent half century the world has turned into a global village because of increased trade, people migrating to well-off countries and because of an evolution in communication, including print/electronic media, Internet and the social media. This increased interaction among civilizations enhanced their responsiveness to cultural change and gave them the realization of cultural differences.

According to Huntington, cultural conflicts in the West are centered in Europe, Northern America and Australasia. In Europe, however, it excludes the parts of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the countries situated in southeastern Europe. Although previous areas of Soviet Union and Latin America are included but their own divided civilizations will be the focus of attention for future conflicts in these areas. In Latin America, the cultural divide includes South America except Central America, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Although Latin America is part of the Western civilization, yet it possesses a diverse communal and political structure as compared to North America and the European region. In the Eastern hemisphere, Hindu, Sinic, Buddhist and Japanese civilizations are in a conflict because of their diverse ethnic and cultural imperatives.

As pointed out by Huntington, there are certain countries referred to as Cleft Countries. These Cleft Countries, composed of certain larger group of people representing other civilizations include India having cleft between the Muslim minority and Hindu majority; Ukraine, having a cleft between its dominated parts of the Orthodox east and the Catholic dominated west. In China this cleft is between the Buddhist and the Sinic, while in the Philippines the cleft is between the Sinic and the Western civilization.

According to Huntington, the West came into a conflict with Japan when it started building economic might after World War II. But today, sixteen years after the Clash of Civilizations was published, Peoples Republic of China has emerged from the East, intimidating Western economies. And as time will pass, as civilizations will evolve, these conflicts will not only intensify, but more will emerge, stronger than before. But there is a positive effect as well; the non-Western civilizations are gaining wealth, knowledge, technology and skills in their quest to compete with the Western civilizations and, therefore, the world is becoming flat in the process.

In conclusion, I view Clash of Civilization to be a reality and not just a hypothetical statement put forward by Samuel Huntington. What he proposed decade and a half ago is no more a proposition but an actuality. The Clash of Civilizations will now be the basis for future conflicts, as the cultural differences are stronger than economic and political beliefs.

—The writer is a Karachi-based journalist.

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