Clashologist

Samuel Huntington, dead at age 81

Date published: 1/9/2009

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON'S name may not be on the tip of every reader's tongue, but his theories are as relevant as the front page of today's paper. Mr. Huntington, a Harvard political science professor who died on Christmas Eve, championed the "clash of civilizations" theory of world conflict, a paradigm that came into sharp focus on 9/11.

In his 1993 book with that title, Mr. Huntington outlined eight types of civilizations (Western, Latin American, Islamic, Sinic, Hindu, Orthodox, Japanese, and African) destined for conflict. As columnist Jonah Goldberg noted, Mr. Huntington "argued that culture, religion, and tradition are not background noise, as materialists of the left and the right often argue. Rather, they constitute the drumbeat to which whole civilizations march." Clashing world views will spark more wars than economic rivalry.

Critics of Mr. Huntington's theories abound, but given the ongoing conflicts in the world, his ideas are sure to provide fodder for debate for decades.

Born in New York, Mr. Huntington earned his Ph.D. at a young age and began teaching at Harvard at 23. He wrote 17 books, including "Political Order in Changing Societies" (1969), which questioned the efficacy of universalizing democracy. Brilliant and controversial, he died on mostly clash-free Martha's Vineyard at age 81.

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Date published: 1/9/2009