Islamic World Versus Western World: A Clash Of Civilizations?

With the end of Cold War in the early 1990s, international politics is entering a new stage. Consequently, many scholars and experts across the world have put forward their unique opinions and theories on the emerging world situation. Among them, Professor Huntington in Harvard University claims that the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations, namely the well-known "clash of civilizations" theory. Professor Huntington's theory has invited numerous positive as well as negative comments from all over the world.The world in the 21st century is far from a peaceful one. The September 11th terrorist attack, the tragedy in Bali, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War at the beginning of the new century seem to have proved Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory, for all the confrontations broke out between two groups of countries, namely, countries of Western civilization and countries of Islamic civilization.However, Huntington's theory doesn't hold water even though there is something desirable in it. Firstly, civilization is a fairly vague and subjective concept. Any analysis based on civilization can hardly be accurate. In addition, there is no common "civilizational interests" to bond countries together. That's why military confrontations won't break out among civilizations. Civilizations do clash with one another. Nevertheless, it is through clashes that civilizations continue to develop. Secondly, international conflicts don't have their roots in differences among civilizations but in clashes of interests. The factor of civilization can only intensify or reduce the possibility of military conflicts.In retrospect, many clashes did break out between the Islamic world and the Western world, such as the Islamic victory over the Christian Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and the Western colonialism. However, all of them without exception are clashes of economic or political interests. Under the cover of religion, the Crusades were also launched to satisfy the Westerners' desire for economic and political interests.Although the post-Cold War world is becoming more complex, the root cause of clashes is still interests. The present confrontations between the United States and some Islamic countries are a case in point. The most fundamental cause lies in the strategic importance of the Islamic world to the United States. Other factors include: US foreign policy toward the Middle East, the Islamic Resurgence and the historical resonance. However, civilization and religion should not be ignored in the process of foreign-policy making. Dialogue and cooperation among different civilizations should be actively promoted.To sum up, the complex international political confrontations cannot be simply concluded as clashes of civilizations, for civilizations and religions are subordinated to politics. Thanks to globalization, countries all over the world are becoming more and more mutually dependent. Thus, cooperation and dialogue are best ways to achieve win-win for both sides. And the differences among civilizations should not block the cooperation among countries. Therefore, countries of different civilizations should vigorously conduct dialogues to enhance mutual understanding and carry out positive cooperation to build a peaceful and stable world.