Rating: 
Summary: a reader
Review: For too long we in the West have assumed our values are universal. Sep 11 demonstrated that this is not the case. We need to understand better the perspective of other cultures and how the collision between them can potentially lead to violence. Huntington in his book (which now seems prophetic in light of recent events) lays out these ideas very clearly. A must read to understand current world events.
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting but needs updating
Review: The ideas about the "West's" shrinking world market share are important. I feel the analysis about the Far East needs to be updated in light of the economic collapse in that area in the late 1990's About the Islamic civilization, and the way it is evolving one paragragh stands out: From page 113: " One study of the militant leaders of Egyptian Islamist groups found that they had five major characteristics, which appear to be typical of Islamists in other countries. They were young, overwhelmingly in their twenties and thirties. Eighty percent were university students or university graduates. Over half came from elite colleges of from the intellectually most demanding fields of technical specialization such as medicine or engineering. Over 70 percent were from lower middle class, modest but not poor backgrounds, and were the first generations in their family to get higher education. They spent their childhoods in small towns or rural areas but had become residents of large cities" This is the profile of Atta and his colleagues!!!! I also think that the role of multinational multiregional companies needs to be analyzed.
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Summary: After 9/11
Review: After the September 11th episode I needed to know some background of the terrorists we were going to deal with. And since I knew nothing of the Arabic culture or the Islamic religion and how either would influence their population's behavior or ideology, I thought this book would give me some insight or a more objective worldwiew of the future we face. Whether or not Huntington's information is accurate, his book has at least exposed me to a broader picture of changing civilizations and the effect it has on all cultures. This book has served my reason for buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: I am indeed very impressed with the book as it deals with many sensitive issues in a very logical and with little emotions. His argument on Western world order is threatened by Muslim's mass and Sinic's economic power seemed to reflect what US is concerned about. The book is thought provoking and I do recommend readers who are interested in international affairs to read it whether you agree with all his views.
The author seemed to be at his best when he talks about the Western societies and the Muslim countries, but he does not seem to fully understand the Asian culture, history, thinking and politics. He described Japan as fickle-minded, that it would sway between US alliance and Chinese alliance seemed a little too simplistic. He did not mention about the very sensitive Sino-Japanese relationship due to the invasion of Nanking and the horrific slaughter of the Chinese, in which Japanese made no public apology. The Japanese did not seem to try to ease the sensitive situation, as seen by their actions such as changing their history events in their textbooks, the Japanese Prime Minister's visit to the war shrines. Thus Huntington's arguments and worries that the Japanese may not offer support to the US against the Chinese seemed on weak grounds.
The author tends to judge the Chinese with the Western 'yard-stick' can't seem to gel. Chinese all over the world, tend to do quite well for themselves, part of Chinese mentality and believes is to build on wealth. Chinese in Muslim world, when economic hardship occurs and when the Muslims are unable to cope, the Chinese will subjected to be killed or raped (1970's in Malaysia and 1990's in Indonesia). Chinese on the whole are more passive race and do not like confrontation if possible. Huntington's last chapter where he describes a scenario where China threatened the world peace in 2010 is indeed an eye opener. So far, looking at Sino-US relations, US seemed to be on the offensive line (with the bombing of the Chinese embassy to the spy plane incident) and the Chinese on the defensive. I guess it is too early to make that judgment and we should wait and see if Mr Huntington is right.
Rating: 
Summary: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Review: Huntington makes a strong argument using logical proofs to prove his thesis; Which is that civilizations will replace ideological conflict in the post cold war era. While his thesis goes more in depth, I fail to see the hype produced by the book, namely that some people believe it predicted the attacks of September 11th. People that believe this premise, should look to other political science or sociological sources and will soon realize how wrong Huntington truly is. We need only look at Pakistan or the rest of the Muslim world to discredit his thesis. Islam is not uniting under one common banner to rival the west. The west itself IS NOT a civilization. Both Canada, the United States, and Western Europe contain many people of many different origins and often actively oppose each others policies and strive to be different from each other. Huntington extremely downplays the importance of political leaders and the state, or forgets the political science theory of realism all together. All the eight civilizations mentioned by Huntington frequently cross civlizations and find allies in others, none of them offer a great deal of unity. Before we all get carried away lets look at this book logically and not base it for future conflict in our world, as was seen with numerous cold war documents. It unintentionally provokes a rivallry between Western states and Islam which does not exist, It is between Western states and Islamic radicals or terrorists. I recommend reading any books about political realism or neo-liberalism to perhaps get a theoretical understanding of what is occuring in the world today.
Rating:
Summary: Move over Morganthau, here comes Huntington
Review: This is a great book if you aspire to political Realism, but I do not. Huntington creates a self-fulfilling prophecy; this is the inherent flaw of Realism. If you are ready to march to the beat of war once again, then this book will get you revved up. In all fairness, this book doesn't deserve a one star because it is well written and the arguments are solid. I just don't agree with Huntington's political views. I would recommend reading this book, regardless of your position on international politics. If you disagree with this book, you will have a good time debunking it. If you agree with it, then you have more arguments under your belt. Huntington seems to feel that we define ourselves by who are enemies are (or who we are not), and to a certain extent he is right. The problem with that it creates perpetual conflict. If we can free ourselves from this twisted method of thought, war may very well cease to exist.
Rating:
Summary: It helps to have the perspective of a world model
Review: I just love those books that keep me thinking "I knew that. I knew that." These are the books that seem to make sense of the scattering of separate truths in my head. The conclusions seem so obvious after the author has put everything together for me. This is such a book. After you have read this very interesting survey of world political dynamics, you will have a world model with which to view many seemingly isolated events in context and understand them. Remember Bosnia? That war is related to the current Afghanistan situation. Both are related to what the Chechens are doing in Russia. You will be introduced to what a civilization is and that the major ones in the world are Western, Sinic, and Moslem. This book tells us why we need to respect global diversity, but, at the same time, promote civilizational uniformity. We have not been doing much of this lately as we try imposing our "universal" Western culture on others while promoting multicultural diversity at home. The book successfully separates Westernism from modernism. Sorry, Western civilization is not the end of history. The book explains the new world order that is replacing the old ideological struggle of the Cold War. Best of all, you will understand the causes of 9-11 Attack and what sorts of related things we can look forward to for the rest of our lives.
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Summary: I read this book before Sept. 11
Review: I am a college student, and I had to write a paper on this book, long before Sept. 11 came about. Huntington on page 217 talks about how we have a quasi-war with Islam already happening and that the results and the actions of it will be far worse than anything that happenend during the cold war. Kind of a scary read.
Rating:
Summary: CLash on other issues
Review: THis most excited book is really doubtfull on some subjects. All countries has a special mission on world order. So how can world`s poor country improve? REally in the book there is no chance for getting new vision or to improve. Actually i think so this is not civilations war. This is globalizations war and i will prove it.
Rating:
Summary: Lucid and revelatory
Review: Published in 1996, Huntington's book is stunningly prescient given the events of 9-11. He begins by mapping and describing his paradigm of the world's eight current major civilizations: Sinic, Islamic, Hindu, Western, Latin American, African, Orthodox, and Japanese. Much of the book is dedicated to an exposition of the relative rise and fall in fortunes of each. His well-argued thesis is that Western Civilization, led by its core state--the U.S., has been and continues to be in a period of relative decline versus other civilizations. These civilizations, namely Sinic (Chinese) and Islamic, perceive themselves superior and dominating over the long run. The demographic and economic forces propelling these civilizations are lucidly discussed and backed with statistical evidence which is compelling if not disturbing. His analysis of the threatening potential of Sinic and Islamic civilizations to the West is sobering without being xenophobic. His discussion of the role of the West and U.S. in the Soviet-Afghanistan war and the Bosnian-Serb-Croatian conflict provides valuable insight into the causes for the circumstances in which we now find ourselves. Make no mistake, this is a challenging albeit accessible work that requires some intellectual digestion. However, if you're looking a meaningful read about today's world---and the root causes of terrorism and wars that go beyond the usual trite and politically correct explanations of 'poverty and ignorance'---then read this book. It will be much more meaningful than the current flood of books on Afghanistan which either focus on either travel anecdotes or second-hand information (much of it probably wrong) on Osama bin Laden. Also recommended: 'Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism in Central Asia' by Ahmed Rashid
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