Developing Nations IV, 102407

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Developing Nations IV, 10/24/07

• Midterm, November 14 (530 730)
• Provisional list w questions later this week
• Weekly contributions (3.3 x 3)
• AL-KIBSSI AM YASMEEN email?
• Two topics left (midterm)
• Modernization Dependency
• Globalization
• Additional topics?
• Gender politics
• Urban vs. rural

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Clash of Civilizations

• - A new phase in world politics
• The fundamental source of conflict neither
  ideology, nor economics
• Instead, the new source of conflict will be
  cultural
• Main conflicts of the future the fault lines
  between civilizations

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• Four stages in the history of conflicts
• Monarchs
• Nations
• Ideologies
• Civilizations

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Civilization a cultural entity

• 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 by the subjective
  self-identification of people. (Huntington 1993,
  p. 24)

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Why civilizations will clash

• Differences between civilizations are real and
  basic
• I.e., they shape the worldview of their members
• (ii) The world becomes smaller
• More interaction ? more conflict
• (iii) Modernization social change ?
• alienation ?
• rise of fundamentalism
• (the unsecularization of the world)

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• (iv) The dual role of the West
• The West is at the peak of its power
• This fuels anti-Western reactions
• (v) Cultural characteristics less mutable than
  political and economic ones (what are you? vs.
  which side are you on?)
• (vi) Increased economic regionalism
• ? reinforces civilization-consciousness
• ? may succeed only when rooted in a common
  civilization

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Therefore

• People define their identity in ethnic
  religious terms
• See an us vs. them relation between them and
  other cultures
• Clash of civilizations

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Exam questions

• (i) List and discuss the six reasons why,
  according to Huntington, civilizations will clash
• (ii) List and briefly discuss each of
  Huntingtons four stages in the history of
  conflicts

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Potential critiques?

• Civilization a bit fuzzy, perhaps?
• Falsifiability? (How can we prove Huntington
  wrong?)
• Too ready to label any conflict a cultural
  conflict?
• Selective evidence/interpretation?

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Anwar Ibrahim, Muslim Democracy

• Muslim democracy (?)
• I.e., democracy in a predominantly Muslim
  country,
• Rather than democracy with Muslim features
• No inherent incompatibility btw Islam and
  Democracy
• Many features of Islam are conducive to democracy
• Why do authoritarians have the upper hand?

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Huntington vs. Inglehart Norris

• Point of agreement democracy has a hard time
  taking root in Islamic countries
• Point of disagreement why is that the case?

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Islam Democracy

• Huntington lack of the core political values
  that gave birth to representative democracy in
  Western civilization
• Inglehart Norris gender (in)equality (and
  attitudes associated with it)

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Evidence? Survey data (WVS)

• Political values people from Islamic countries
  are no less supportive of democracy than the
  people from other cultures
• Social values far less committed to gender
  equality
• ? economic consequences
• ? political consequences

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Consequences

• ? economic disenfranchisement of half of the
  (potential) workforce
• ? political
• - direct political disenfranchisement
• - indirect economic underdevelopment
• ?
• political underdevelopment

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Does it matter for democracy?
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(More) bad news

• A widening generation gap
• younger generations in both Western and other
  non-Western societies are increasingly supportive
  of gender equality
• younger generations in Islamic societies are not

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Conclusion?

• The culture of Islamic societies does appear
  problematic for democracy
• However, the problem is the attitudes toward
  gender equality, rather than toward democracy per
  se

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Any room for optimism?

• Modernization theory
• Economic change
• ?
• Social change
• ?
• Cultural change
• ?
• Political change