سلسلة الأنوار
Volume 13, Numéro 1, Pages 282-300
2023-02-20

Samuel Huntington’s Clash Of Civilizations Theory And Its Impact On The African Cultural Identity

Authors : Guemide Boutkhil .

Abstract

The end of the Cold War has witnessed dramatic changes in international relations and world politics. The collapse of the ex- USSR has paved the way to the US to emerge successfully as a global power, and; thus, moving from bipolarity to unipolarity, in which the US has maintained its supremacy over the world in politics, economy, and military issues. The rise of the US as a supreme power was also due to some emerging theories which predicted the new status of the US. Arguably, Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’ which emerged shortly after the end of the Cold War, did more than predicting the rise of the US as a world, dominant super power. Theoretically, the aforementioned theory has had a role in creating a multipolar world. Along with Samuel Huntington’s theory of ‘Clash of Civilizations’, the US claimed its global supremacy, and intended to dominate the world politically, economically, and culturally. As a successful global power, the US seeks to impose its cultural hegemony on several weak countries; such as, African ones. With the coming of globalization, these African countries failed to build solid cultural bases. Being used as a political means by US policymakers, Samuel Huntington’s theory of ‘Clash of Civilizations’ has serious impacts on African cultural identity. The present paper analyzes the impacts of Samuel Huntington’s theory of ‘Clash of Civilizations’ on the African cultural identity.

Keywords

Samuel Huntington ; Theory of Clash of Civilizations ; Africa ; Cultural Identity