Abstract

Of the various attempts to come to terms with a changing world order, Samuel Huntington's recent work stands out, not least because it has prefigured a framework relevant to strategic decision-making. He envisions a “clash of civilizations” in a multipolar world where nation-states are motivated by core civilizational values. On the microlevel, the clash is over territory and physical resources; on the macrolevel, it is about ideas or what has been called “soft” power. According to Huntington, religion provides the pivotal distinction on which inter-civilizational conflict hinges. From this, secular distinctions follow, which offer fundamentally different accounts of the relation between individuals and the collectivity, citizens and the state, husbands and wives, parents and children, liberty and authority, rights and responsibilities, equality and hierarchy.