Contemporary Middle Eastern History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contemporary Middle Eastern autobiography - Essay ExampleI believe that some of his ideas are a stark reflection of the profound reality and can offer some insight into present religious/cultural relations. That is, there is in truth a tension of sorts between identifiable groups of humanity in the present day. However, Samuel Huntington makes a gross oversimplification of things without an in-depth understanding of the nature of present-day conflicts and the complex characteristics of cultures. So, there is no clash of civilizations as such. Significantly, his theory fails to satisfactorily explain the post September 11th world.Samuel Huntington outlines a future where the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural (Huntington 199322) and on this basis divides the world into seven civilizations. I approve with his broad idea of the significance of culture and that this is the basis upon which humankind can be differentiated. But, his differentiation is for the most part based on religion with some exceptions and the fact that he has ignored Buddhism altogether. Also, he puts Israel together with the West, thereby combining Jews with Christians, which is strange if we look at history. He does correctly identify nation-states as a comparatively new phenomenon, and that economic and military power drives conflicts. He is also correct in saying that the notion of a global or universal culture is a relatively recent on originating in the West and that the West considers its own policies as positive for the rest of the world and therefore to be compel upon it. As far as human rights is concerned this does not hold water because Islam conferred human rights over a thousand years ago, so this is more a reflection of the changed times rather than differences. Also, we could befuddle examples of the not too distant past when for example inter-racial problems were severe, civil and womens rights was obtained. So, Ameri ca has no fast(a) foundations