Quotes by Samuel P. Huntington

About Samuel P. Huntington:

Samuel Phillips Huntington is most well-known by his 1993 theory, "The Clash of Civilizations", of a post-Cold War new world order. He argued that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures, and that Islamic extremism would become the biggest threat to Western world domination. Huntington is credited with helping to shape U.S. views on civilian-military relations, political development, and comparative government.
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In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.

Samuel P. Huntington

Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.

Samuel P. Huntington

Arabs and other Muslims generally agreed that Saddam Hussein might be a bloody tyrant, but, paralleling FDR's thinking, "he is our bloody tyrant." In their view, the invasion was a family affair to be settled within the family and those who intervene...

Samuel P. Huntington

Some Westerners […] have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise.

Samuel P. Huntington

The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion […] but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.

Samuel P. Huntington

Also, of course, for most of this time most Americans thought of America as a white country with, at best, only a very segregated and subordinate role for blacks.

Samuel P. Huntington

And the big question for the West, of course, and to the Europeans is, what other countries, which were formerly part of the Soviet bloc, should be incorporated into western institutions?

Samuel P. Huntington

In 1920, the West ruled huge amounts of the world.

Samuel P. Huntington

And so in terms of territorial control, in terms of economic preeminence, the western share of the gross world product is declining as Asian societies in particular develop economically.

Samuel P. Huntington

Well, I think the United States first of all has to recognize the world for what it is.

Samuel P. Huntington

I think clearly the United States, as well as other western nations, should stand by their commitments to human rights and democracy and should try to influence other countries to move in that direction.

Samuel P. Huntington

It was one thing to contain the Soviet Union in Europe because Britain, France, and Germany were all willing to join in. But will Japan and other Asian countries be willing to join in the containment of China?

Samuel P. Huntington

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

Samuel P. Huntington

We also thought of ourselves in racial and largely ethnic terms.

Samuel P. Huntington

The British were white, English, and Protestant, just as we were. They had to have some other basis on which to justify independence, and happily they were able to formulate the inalienable truths set forth in the Declaration.

Samuel P. Huntington

The West hasn't reached its universal state as yet, although its close to it, but it certainly has evolved out of its warring state phase, which it was in for a couple of centuries.

Samuel P. Huntington

Thus, biologically speaking the American people are literally only half an immigrant people.

Samuel P. Huntington

First of all, we haven't always welcomed immigrants.

Samuel P. Huntington

Finally, in my critique of the immigration image of America, it is also important to know that we're not only a nation of immigrants, but we are in some part a nation of emigrants, which often gets neglected.

Samuel P. Huntington

But then I came to the conclusion that no, while there may be an immigration problem, it isn't really a serious problem. The really serious problem is assimilation.

Samuel P. Huntington

Author Bio

  • NameSamuel P. Huntington
  • Descriptionpolitical philosopher from the United States
  • AliasesSamuel Phillips Huntington
  • BornApril 18, 1927
  • DiedDecember 24, 2008
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPhilosopher; Geopolitician; Political Scientist; Writer
  • WorksThe Third Wave: Democratization In The Late Twentieth Century
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship