Neo Modernization 33hs

Neo-Modernization and Samuel T. Huntington Presented By: Lorraine Grace Gallegos-Ugsang Neo-Modernization  Neo-Modernization emerged in tandem with post-modernism but which was given great boost in the late 80’s with the collapse of communism;  According to Huntington the process of modernization is the interaction of culture or civilization, which he defines primarily in of language and religion;  With the process of modernization results in a strengthening of non-Western cultures and reduction in the relative power of the West;  The modernization process consists of: o The early phase in which Westernization promotes modernization; o The latter phase in which modernization promote de-Westernization and the resurgence of indigenous culture at both the societal individual levels.  Instead of viewing modernization as a convergence towards a homogenized world, Huntington views this process as ultimately divisive. Who is Samuel Huntington? Notable Arguments Political Order in Changing Societies  Released in 1968, just as the US’s war in Vietnam was reaching its apex, which was a critique of the modernization theory which has driven much US policy in the developing world in the prior decade;  As societies modernize they become more complex and disordered;  If the process of social modernization that produce disorder is not matched by a process of political and institutional modernization;  A process which produces political institutions capable of managing the stress of modernization— the result may be violence Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century  There has been a third wave of democratization beginning with Portugal’s revolution in 1974;  Third Wave of Democratization a global trend which includes more than 60 countries throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa; o Democratization is the transition to a more democratic political regime; o Different patterns are often used to explain other political phenomena, whether a country goes to war or whether it economy grows; o Influenced by various factors, including economic development, history, and civil society Clash of Civilizations  Post-Cold War conflict would most frequently and violently occur because of cultural rather than ideological differences.

Brief Background on the Clash of Civilizations Next Pattern of Conflict  World politics is entering a new phase, and intellectuals have not hesitated to proliferate visions of what will be—the end of history; the return of traditional rivalries between nation states; and the decline of the nation state from the conflicting pulls of tribalism and globalism, among others. o The conflicts of the western world were largely among princes – emperors, absolute monarchs and constitutional monarchs attempting to expand their bureaucracies, their armies, their mercantilist economic strength and, most important, the territory they ruled; o In the process they created nation states, and beginning with the French Revolution the principal lines of conflict were between nations rather than princes; o As a result of the Russian Revolution and the reaction against it, the conflict of nations yielded to the conflict ideologies, first among communism, fascism-Nazism and liberal democracy, and the between communism and liberal democracy; o During the Cold War, this latter conflict became embodied in the struggle between two superpowers, neither of which was a nation state in the classical European sense and each of which defines its identity in of ideology.  Civilization is a cultural entity. Villages, regions, ethnic groups, nationalities, religious groups, all have distinct cultures at different levels of cultural heterogeneity; o The culture of a village in southern Italy may be different from that of a village in northern Italy, but both will share in a common Italian culture that distinguishes from German villages. European communities, in turn, will share cultural features that distinguish them from Arab or Chinese communities.  A civilization is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species;  It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history, religion, customs, institutions and the subjective self-identification of people;  May involve a large number of people, include several nation states, blend and overlap, and may include sub-civilizations;  They are meaningful entities. Dynamic, they rise and fall, and divide and merge. Civilizations also disappear and are buried in the sands of time. Why Civilizations will Clash  First, the differences among civilizations are basic. Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition and most importantly, religion; o The people of different civilizations have different views on the relations between God and man as well as differing views of the relative importance of rights and responsibilities, liberty and authority, equality and hierarchy; o These differences are the product of centuries, they will not soon disappear. They are far more fundamental than differences among political ideologies and politics regimes.  Differences do not necessarily mean conflict, and conflict does not necessarily mean violence.















  



Second, the world is becoming a smaller place. Interactions between peoples of different civilizations are increasing; and increasing interactions intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of difference between civilizations and commonality within civilization. Interactions among peoples of different civilizations enhance the civilization-consciousness of people. It invigorates differences and animosities stretching or thought to stretch back deep into history. Third, the process of economic modernization and social change throughout the world are separating the people from longstanding local identities. It also weakens the nation state as a source of identity; World religion has moved to fill this gap, often in the form of movements that are labeled as fundamentalist. o Such movements are found in Western Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, as well as Islam. In most countries and most religions the people active in fundamentalist movement are young, college-educated, middle-class technicians, professionals and business persons. The un-secularization of the world is one of the dominant social factors of life in the late twentieth century.—George Weigel; Fourth, the growth of civilization consciousness enhanced by the dual role of the West. A West at the peak of its power confronts on-West that increasingly have the desire, the will and the resources to shape the world in non-Western ways. A de-Westernization and indigenization of elites is occurring in many non-Western countries at the same time Western cultures, styles and habits become more popular among the people. Fifth, cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones; Even more than ethnicity, religion discriminate sharply and exclusively among people; A person can be half-French and half-Arab and simultaneously even a citizen of two countries but it is more difficult to be a half-Catholic and half-Muslim; Finally, economic regionalism is increasing. o Successful economic regionalism will reinforce civilization-consciousness; o On the other hand, economic regionalism may succeed only when it is rooted in a common civilization; o The European Community rests on the shared foundation of European culture and Western Christianity; o Common culture is clearly facilitating the rapid expansion of the economic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the overseas Chines communities in other Asian countries. If cultural commonality is a

prerequisite for economic integration, the principal East Asian economic bloc of the future is likely to be centered on China. Chinese-based economy of Asia is rapidly emerging as a new epicenter for industry, commerce and finance. This influential network – often based on extensions of the traditional clans has been described as the backbone of the East Asian economy.  

    

Civilization identities will replace all other identities and nation states will disappear. Each civilization will become a single coherent political entity. Differences in civilizations are real and important. Civilization-consciousness is increasing. Conflicts between civilizations will supplant ideological and other forms of conflict as the dominant global form of conflict. Security and economic international institutions are more likely to develop within civilizations than across civilizations. Conflicts between groups in different civilizations will be more frequent, more sustained and more violent than conflict between groups in the same civilizations. Violent conflicts between groups in different civilizations are most likely and most dangerous source of escalation that lead to global wars; A central focus of conflict for the immediate future will be between the West and several IslamicConfucian states; For a relevant future, there will be no universal civilization, but instead a world of different civilizations, each of which will have to learn to coexist with the others.

Criticisms on Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations  The starting point for his model is problematic to the extent he argues that Westernization promotes modernization.  Western vs. Non-Western dichotomy and his broad categorizations of language and religion lumps together vast groups of people who may have very little in common in of culture.  Huntington’s omission of factors such as colonial history, creates little more than a potentially spurious relationship concerning his of the link between modernization and socioeconomic development and fails to for this potential path-dependency issue.  Huntington’s taxonomy is simplistic and arbitrary, and does not take of the internal dynamics and partisan tensions within civilizations.  He neglects ideological mobilization by elites and unfulfilled socioeconomic needs of the population as the real causal factors driving conflict.  His paradigm is nothing but realist thinking in which states become replaced by civilizations.