The Emerging Cultures of Capitalism: From the "Clash of Civilizations" to "Unity in Diversity"

Abstract

This paper contends that Samuel Huntington`s views about the ”clash of civilizations” have fundamental flaws. First, his understanding of civilizations and their historical evolution is faulty and second, in terms of future trends, he has mistakenly equated one pseudo-territorial entity(i. e., ”civilizations”) with another (i.e., emerging regions, such as the European Union [EU], the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN], and Mercado Comun del Sur [MERCOSUR]). This paper argues that although civilizations are a valuable abstraction for understanding history, they are not, in themselves, the fundamental motors of human interaction and development. Furthermore, civilizations are not the billiard balls implied by Huntingto: they intermingle, interpenetrate, and evolve by a process of internal change and external influences.\nThese issues are explored in the paper`s two primary sections. The first of these sections reassesses the meaning of ”civilization” and ”Western civilzation” by looking at what is meant by ”Europe,” the core cultural artefact in what is conceived as the ”West.” The discussion demonstrates that the relatively unusual conditions underlying the emergence of this ”civilization” have meant that Huntington`s view of relations between civilizations is misconceived. The second section looks to the future and shows how the structures of the emerging world system are crucially situated in the political economy of the present and the recent past. It suggests that while the multicultural nature of the emerging world order may result in the emergence of distinctive ”capitalisms,” there is no reason to assume, however, that international interactions will occur at the intercivilizational level. If anything, the activities of transnational corporations (TNGs) will ensure an ongoing commercial and cultural exchange and interpenetration between distant parts of the world. To be sure, there will be future political and economic conflicts between states and other entitiex, but these will not be clashes between civilizations.