Many More People In The World Are

In The Coming Decades, Questions Of Identity, Meaning Cultural Heritage, Language, And Religion Will Play A Central Role In Politics.

It Is My Hypothesis That The Fundamental Source Of Conflict In This New [post-cold-war] World Will Not Be Primarily Ideological Or Primarily Economic. The Great Divisions Among Humankind And The Dominating Source Of Conflict Will Be Cultural. Nation States Will Remain The Most Powerful Actors In World Affairs, But The Principal Conflicts Of Global Politics Will Occur Between Nations And Groups Of Different Civilizations. The Clash Of Civilizations Will Dominate Global Politics. The Fault Lines Between Civilizations Will Be The Battle Lines Of The Future.

The Argument Now That The Spread Of Pop Culture And Consumer Goods Around The World Represents The Triumph Of Western Civilization Trivializes Western Culture. The Essence Of Western Civilization Is The Magna Carta, Not The Magna Mac. The Fact That Non-westerners May Bite Into The Latter Has No Implications For Their Accepting The Former.

I Think In Theory, The United States Finds It Much Easier To Deal With Situations Where There Is A Leading Country. You Can Go To The Leaders Of That Country And Say, For Example, To India, "there Are All These Problems In Bangladesh, We Really Have To Do Something About It, What Do You Suggest We Can Do To Work Out A Common Policy?" But When You Don't Have The Equivalent Of India, You Have To Go Capital To Capital Trying To Put Together A Coalition, Which Is Extraordinarily Difficult, Especially In The Arab World, Because Of The Historic Rivalries And Branches Of Islam.

I Think Fundamentalism Is This Radical Attitude Toward One's Own Identity And Civilization As Compared To Other People's Identities And Cultures.