About this ebook
The "clash of civilizations" is a topic of great interest around the world and constitutes an important dimension of religion and international relations. In the quarter century since Huntington first aired his controversial framework, inter-civilizational "clash" and "dialogue" have become mainstream issues both in international relations and in many Western countries' domestic concerns. The book examines a key question: how does Samuel Huntington’s "clash of civilizations" "paradigm" help explain current Western governments" responses to Muslim migration and related security issues? Understanding relations between the West/Westerners and Muslim-majority societies/Muslims is impossible without being aware that right-wing populist politicians in the West, as well as some policy makers and commentators, seem to view all Muslims in a malign way. This indicates a lack of willingness to make a distinction between, on the one hand, the mass of "moderate," "ordinary," and "peaceful" Muslims and, on the other hand, a small minority of Islamist extremists and even smaller number of Islamist terrorists. The result is a crucial topic of our times: how do different civilizations coexist in a small and increasingly congested planet without conflict?
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs.
About the author
Jeffrey Haynes is emeritus professor at London Metropolitan University, UK. He is author or editor of more than 50 books. The most recent are: Peace, Politics, and Religion (ed.), Basel, Switzerland: MDPI, 2020, and Religion, Conflict and Post-Secular Politics, London: Routledge, 2020.
