Samuel Huntington has been one of the most influent thinkers of the past century, his ideas have shaped a generation of politicians and scholars. Yet there is an immense gap between his famous Clash of Civilizations and his less known Who are we?
This Huntingtonian Discord (discorde huntingtonienne) is usually overlooked but its geopolitical consequences are enormous. He gathers the United States, Canada and most of Europe as part of a Western Civilization in his Clash but in his other aforementioned book he writes:
“Would America be the America it is today if in the 17th and 18th centuries it had been settled not by British Protestants but by French, Spanish, or Portuguese Catholics? The answer is no. It would not be America; it would be Quebec, Mexico, or Brazil.”
If in one book Huntington defends that Western Civilization is both Protestant and Catholic in another he clearly excludes Catholics by pointing out something that is true, America’s essence is hostile to Catholicism and has very little to do with it. European Civilization and Western Civilization are two different, some would even say irreconcilable, realities. It is not uncommon to see great authors contradict themselves, some … Read More