Read ten thousand books, walk ten thousand miles. On the 5th April, postgraduate grade one and two students majoring in international politics held the reading symposium about the book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order under the guidance of Teacher Ye Shulan. In the book "The Clash of civilizations and the rebuilding of the world Order", Samuel Huntington put forward thetheory of clash of civilization. Teachers and students shared and explained their views and opinions around the contents of the book.
Huntington believes that the conflict between countries after the post-cold War world is no longer economic or ideological, but the cultural conflict. Although the nation-state remains the main role in international affairs, international conflicts will take place mainly among civilizations, and the clash of civilizations will determine the future international political landscape.
However, is there only conflict but no integration of civilization? Is there a compromise between the Western civilized world and the Islamic civilized world? Is the conflict between the two aggravating or easing? Taking civilization as the unit is a new perspective that Huntington offers us. It seems irreconcilable of Sino-US relations from a civilization point of view. The differences between Chinese and American civilizations have not changed much for a long time, but the role of the two sides has changed constantly. Therefore, the ups and downs of Sino-US relations cannot be observed from the angle of civilization conflict alone but should be considered more from the angle of the change of national interests.
The teachers and students discussed what measures should be taken to reduce the clash between civilizations. The United States believes that Western civilization is applicable everywhere and is one kind of universal civilization. Nevertheless, the Western, which wants to influence or even change another civilization by force, may gain short-term benefits, but the use of force does not really create attraction and centripetal forces. From the empirical experience, many of the wars in history are conflicts within civilizations rather than between civilizations, and we see more wars of competing interests and economic resources conflicts.
In this reading symposium, Teacher Ye left the students a lot of guidance and inspiration to make all the students have common progress through the exchange. Look forward to the students thinking and discussing in the future study life more actively. (Contributor / Wang Lei, Chen Hongjie)
Department of Political Science
5th April 2017