Samuel P. Huntington: 1927-2008

Over Christmas break the International Relations community got some sad news, Samuel Huntington died. In summer of 1993 Samuel Huntington published “The Clash of Civilizations?” in Foreign Affairs. He postulated that, “with the end of the Cold War, international politics [would move] out of its Western phase, and its centerpiece [would become] the interaction between the West and non-Western civilizations and among non-Western civilizations.” In 1996, five years before the attacks of 9/11, he published a book, “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order” in which he suggested (among other things) that Islam was a “challenger civilization” that would attempt to topple the western hegemony of the world order. To many conservatives, Huntington is the George Kennan of this generation.
While his views have been controversial, (another example is his 2004 book, “Who Are We?”) they are also informed, influential, and interesting. I think the most astute observation of his that I’ve read was that the U.S. and Western Europe were like brothers. When it’s just the two of them they fight and squabble, but the second another kid steps in, they stand together. It’s interesting, and, to the best of my knowledge, true.
I’ve never met Samuel Huntington, I haven’t read even a quarter of his 19 books, and yet I feel a profound loss. His family and friends have my condolences; the world is a little less bright.