From Huntington to Trump

In an influential 1993 Foreign Affairs article, Samuel Huntington argued that the main source of international conflict after the Cold War would not be ideological but cultural. Haynes (London Metropolitan Univ., UK) uses Huntington’s framework to examine contemporary international politics, particularly the rise of right-wing populism, “Christian civilizationism,” and the “securitization” of Islam in the US and Europe. In so doing, he also illustrates the shortcomings of Huntington’s model, observing that contemporary civilizations, including the “Muslim world,” are increasingly divided along sectarian lines. The first four chapters explain Huntington’s theory of the “clash of civilizations” and provide historical background on the rise of “Islamophobia” and “Christian civilizationism.” The next three chapters include case studies of the revival of right-wing nationalism in the US, Western Europe, and Central Europe, and a discussion of attempts to promote "intercivilizational dialogue" at the UN. Shedding light on significant contemporary events, such as Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election and the rise of xenophobia in Europe provoked by the 2015 refugee crisis, this topical volume is an important contribution to the literature on post-Cold War international relations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

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Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theory has been controversial among academics since it was introduced. Jeffrey Haynes demonstrates that the belief that there is a clash of civilizations is having an increasing impact on politics. It fuels populism as well as anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments in the West. It has also spurred a “dialogue among civilizations” initiative by the United Nations. This book provides a new perspective and insight on how Huntington’s theory impacts politics. It shows that the theory’s greatest influence is not in its ability to explain politics but in how it captures the minds of some political actors and influences their behavior. -- Jonathan Fox, Yehuda Avner Professor of Religion and Politics, Bar Ilan University
Jeffrey Haynes connects two apparently unrelated phenomena: Harvard professor Huntington’s 1993 “clash of civilizations,” a controversial explanation of the post-Cold War world order, and the U.S. Presidency of Donald Trump over twenty years after Huntington. With remarkable clarity and coherence, Haynes writes what is an important chapter of a crisis of the misunderstandings of America-led liberal world order, of which both Huntington and Trump are but symptoms. -- Vendulka Kubalkova, professor of international studies, University of Miami
Haynes engagement with the clash of civilizations is a timely contribution, demonstrating how fears of "others" became entrenched and dispelling self-evident and popularized truths about civilizational conflicts. -- Guy Ben-Porat, department chairperson, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Jeffrey Haynes' book presents a unique synthetic and critical analysis of the clash of civilizations across different political and cultural contexts over the last three decades. It is a must-read for students of politics as well as for members of the media and journalists. -- Jocelyne Cesari, University of Birmingham and Georgetown Univer