Huntington, Samuel P. (1927–)

Eminent political scientist, Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard University, and chairman of the Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies. A prolific and often controversial writer, Huntington has written extensively and been professionally involved with issues concerning national security and strategy, civil-military relations, the political and economic development of less-developed countries, and American politics and political development. During 1986–87, he was president of the American Political Science Association. During 1977 and 1978, he served in the White House as coordinator of security planning for the National Security Council. He was also the founder and coeditor of the journal Foreign Policy for seven years.

His principal books include The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations (1957), The Common Defense: Strategic Programs in National Politics (1961), Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony (1981), The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (1991), and The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of World Order (1996). He coauthored Political Power: USA USSR (1964), The Crisis of Democracy (1975), and No Easy Choice: Political Participation in Developing Countries (1976).

Among these works, perhaps the most controversial was The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of the World Order, in which Huntington's main argument or hypothesis was that the fundamental source of conflict in the new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. He argued that 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. It is this worldview and central theme that Huntington [Page 343]has tried to propagate repeatedly through his writings and that, in turn, has influenced thinking on vital issues of global interest, such as terrorism.

Some liberals, such as Edward Said, have critiqued Huntington and his idea of civilization and cultural clashes as overly simplistic and vast abstractions lacking informed analysis. In his most recent book, Who We Are: Challenges to American National Identity, Huntington toes the same line, going one step further to talk about division within America resulting from a seemingly disturbing cultural influx caused by mass Hispanic immigration. He argues that it will divide America into “two peoples, two cultures and two languages”—another clash of civilizations, in effect.

Although Huntington's writings have tended to spark controversy, some intellectuals give him credit for bravery with the pen. Even as he continues to be severely criticized and imaginatively insensitive for coining such phrases as “Islam's Bloody Borders,” in a time of heightened international terrorist activity, his ideas on culture have found credibility in some intellectual and political quarters. Whether it is by default or to provide legitimacy to certain foreign policy, immigration policy, or the like is an open question for debate. In the end, the phrase “you can love him or loathe him, but not ignore him” seems apt in describing this controversial figure and writer.