Huntington And The Cold War Essay

Some would argue, given the media coverage of Ferguson, Baltimore, South Carolina and Madison, that the primary source for conflict will arise from cultural, or civilizational, differences. Samuel Huntington’s hypothesis that “the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural” is one that I have considered (Huntington, 1993, p. 1). To a point, I can understand and acknowledge that there may be some basis of truth in Huntington’s hypothesis. I believe that much of the unrest in the world is most likely caused by a clashing of cultures, intolerance for viewpoints or practices that differ from one’s own and a lack of education about different cultures and norms that are, in many cases, harmless and benign. Though this is the case, I do not believe that most insurgent and terrorist organizations care as much about cultural differences as they do …show more content…
The theory was that, “the end of the Cold War deprived the United States and the Soviet Union of the incentive to provide arms to combatants in proxy wars, even for combatants who wanted to go on fighting” (Toft, 2010, p. 14). Without weapons and ammunition, it seems likely that the conflicting sides would be more willing to achieve a negotiated settlement (Toft, 2010, p. 14). As evidenced, however, we know that the United States and the Soviet Union continued to provide arms to many smaller nations, albeit in a more circumspect manner. These tactics functioned to enhance the shroud of secrecy and tension that was so prevalent throughout the Cold war. It was almost as if the United States and the Soviet Union were in competition to see who could inflict the most damage upon each other without regard to the damage sustained by the country they used to further their