(Reuters Editorial Blog) December 29, 2008: Political scientist Samuel Huntington, whose controversial book Ҕhe Clash of CivilizationsӠpredicted conflict between the West and the Islamic world, has died at age 81, Harvard University said on Saturday.br /br /In his 1996 Ҕhe Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,Ӡwhich expanded on his 1993 article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Huntington divided the world into rival civilizations based mainly on religious traditions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism and said competition and conflict among them was inevitable. His thesis was one of the most influential, controversial and widely debated in foreign affairs circles in the past decade or so.br /br /His focus on religion rather than ideology as a source of conflict in the post-Cold War world triggered broad debate about relations between the Western and Islamic worlds. br /br /҉n Eurasia the great historic fault lines between civilizations are once more aflame,Ӡhe wrote.ӠThis is particularly true along the boundaries of the crescent-shaped Islamic bloc of nations from the bulge of Africa to central Asia. Violence also affects Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Burma and Catholics in the Philippines.Ӣr /br /But next month America will swear in its first black president, a Christian whose Kenyan father had an Islamic background. And there has been an outburst in recent months of inter-faith dialogue and initiatives./phr /
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