The Operant Manifesto By Samuel P. Huntington

Differences between cultures are not something new. Many of us can still see it in our daily lives. Four hundred years ago two very distinctly different cultures clashed in what we call the American Southwest. The Spanish presence brought new ideas, new culture, and new way of life to the new found Americas much to the demise of the already settled native tribes. Already having controlled much of Mexico and South America, problems were rising in the outskirts of New Spain. Secular and religious authorities were in conflict and the ever growing animosity of its aboriginal tribe made it difficult to maintain Spanish control. Though, for four generations the Spaniards had begun to feel successful in their endeavors of

World History in Context, written by David Christian (2003), questions the context of world history as well as the complexity of human history and the societies with which they live. In Christian’s article he argues that looking at world history in its global context, rather than one specific moment in history, is the way it is intended to be interpreted and allows historians to recognize reoccurring patterns and themes. World history is meant to be an unbiased account of only one specific species, humans (Christian 2003, 437-438). Historians often struggle with this challenging topic and tend to produce works extremely biased, usually towards stable ‘western civilizations’ and

At first Native Americans, Europeans and Africans were separated by the vast oceans in between their continents, but as technologies and trade in Europe advanced the three region’s worlds collided. There were various similarities and differences in policy, economy and religion amongst the three regions but alas, contact between these empires reaped inevitable change among all these for the better or worse.

In Francis Fukuyama 's “The End of History?” published in 1989, he posits that with the end of the Cold War, humanity is reaching a point where Western liberal democracy and economic structure is the highest form of ideological development. Other ideologies (communism, fascism, etc.) are vestigial forms of thinking destined to fail and disappear in an inevitable progression towards a liberal system (Fukuyama 1989). In “The Clash of Civilizations?” published in 1993, Samuel Huntington writes that the world is divided into civilizations, based on culture (not ideology or economic factors), and that the conflicts of the future (and some in the present) will be based on divisions along those lines. These include, according to Huntington, “Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and possibly African...” (Huntington 1993, 25). While these theories are seemingly compatible at first glance – Fukuyama 's Western liberalism can be the victor in Huntington 's war of civilizations – there is a major difference, and some important reasons for this difference, which we can find in the authors ' pasts.

The article ‘’What Every American Should Know’’ by Eric Liu acknowledges the struggles, the rapidly changing, and all of the multicultural issues that continually expands through every day of the culture wars. So within this article Liu is confronting a very substantial topic, which he asserts the problem of cultural diversity or the culture wars inside of the United States. In the article Liu provides the reader with many different examples all the way from cultural literacy, multiculturalism, and many examples from history over the years. Liu also expresses these examples in a way that the reader can absorb the details in a different style were the reader has to look at each example in a different aspect to fully understand what he is trying to stay. Liu evaluates E.D Hirsch and talks about the list. The list that every American should know, containing ten words that every citizen in America should know. Liu discourages people use Hirsch’s list because of the time differences between the past and the future, and how the culture war has progressed through time. Liu has evolved Hirsch’s idea and created something more modern that people can create their own list to show the people of America different opinions to have and no one is wrong or right that is what makes this list so influential. (Liu)

“conflict occurring between individuals or social groups that separated by cultural boundaries can be considered “cross-cultural conflict.” But individuals, even in the same society, are potentially members of many different groups, organized in different ways by different criteria” (Avruvh, 1998, p.6).

All around the world today, there is a lot of tension revolving around concepts of morality. In Moral Disagreement by Kwame Anthony Appiah, Appiah writes about differing values and morals around the world and within our society. He points out, “we aren’t the only people who have the concepts of right and wrong, good and bad; every society, it seems, has terms that correspond to these thin concepts” (658). However, these concepts are not always the same with each other in every society. In the same way that not everyone in our society believes in the same moral concepts. Unfortunately, it is these disagreements that often separate us as people. Forming different cultures, large and small, throughout the world. This is not a bad thing, but it does separate us as a race, leaving us to care more for one group of people rather than humanity as a whole. In Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism, by Martha Nussbaum, Nussbaum suggest that a way to fix this problem, and to become a cosmopolitan person, is to teach students in our education systems more of different cultures throughout the world. Yet not only should we learn to accept other cultures and their beliefs, but we should also educate ourselves to accept everybody we meet, giving respect to them as individuals, if we ever truly want to become a citizen of the world.

Furthermore, Richard’s preface reveals yet another goal of his for writing this book. For the scholar, this book is aimed to vividly connect ideologies separated by literally thousands of years, but Richard believes that the stories he illustrates are essential for all to know; fundamental history that, he believes, is not shown clearly enough through modern education. “Its purpose is not to extend the frontiers of knowledge but rather to reintroduce Americans to a lost part of their heritage in a way that I hope will be both informative and entertaining,” (Richard x).

Huntington, Sameul. "The Clash of Civilizations." The Aims of Argument: A Text and Reader. 5th ed. Eds. Timothy Crusius and Carolyn Channell. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Lawrence W. Levine approaches the issue of ethnic relations in a slightly different light in his book, “The Opening of the American Mind”. He focuses on the two central components of the entire matter: One-way Assimilation (the melting pot ideology) and Cultural Pluralism, given that the two other models (Ethnic

The term “culture war” means a conflict between societies with different ideas, philosophies, beliefs, and behaviors. This culture war debate is spreading all over the country at a rampant rate, making people question what they know about history and how they know the information they have. Peter Charles Hoffer, the author of the book “Past Imperfect” talks a lot about culture wars and the impact it has on historians and the public. He states “that the leading

In a world where disputes are common over social media, and physical altercations occur a lot in communities; it has never been uncommon. Dating back years, people have been in disagreements from land to trade. Causing a strain in relationships, disputes had to overcome in order to create the world that had been sculpted today. As seen through The Revenant: A novel of revenge, by Michael Punke and Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteau's, the French Dynasty that Ruled America's Frontier by Shirley Christian; it is easy to see how a difference in culture between white-Americans and French-Americans could cause disputes with Native-Americans in how they interacted, worked, and battled against each other.

Huntington explains that a lot of the founding principles of the United States, such as freedom from oppression, and the formulation of the government were based on the majority cultures, which were white Europeans. Following the creation of the country, millions of people have flocked from the four corners of the globe in order to live in a nation of freedom and understanding (Huntington 1). It is thus the white originator culture which has allowed the United States to become a melting pot. However, Huntington proclaims that this unique identity is being threatened by the large amounts of Hispanic people who are becoming a part of the United States. Without assimilation into the larger culture, the ever-increasing number of Hispanics will likely become so numerous as to divide

In Fukuyama 's “The End of History?” published in 1989, he posits that with the end of the Cold War, humanity is reaching a point where Western liberal democracy and economic structure is the highest form of ideological development. Other ideologies (communism, fascism, etc.) are vestigial forms of thinking destined to fail and disappear in an inevitable progression towards a liberal system. In “The Clash of Civilizations?” published in 1993, Huntington writes that the world is divided into civilizations, based on culture (not ideology or economic factors), and that the conflicts of the future (and some in the present) will be based on divisions along those lines. These include, according to Huntington, “Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and possibly African...” (Huntington 1993, 25).

Culture and ideologies shape relationships, in which both define to whom one associates with. The question arises about which has more influence in international relations. Is it cultural factors such as customs, language or societal norms or political polices and philosophy. In 1996 Samuel P.Huntington published “The Clash of Civilizations” which the author gave a geo political theory that cultural differences between civilizations rather than ideological differences would be the primary source of global conflict in the post-cold war. This essay will focuses on the argument in Huntington’s book about how it presents the world, the problem and the proposal for a solution.