A Contemporary Analysis on the Clash of Civilisation Debate

Year 2025, Volume: 2 Issue: 2 , 112 - 120 , 06.01.2026

Idiongomfon Clement Okon

https://doi.org/10.26650/hupej.2025.2.2.5012026

https://izlik.org/JA54FS68DD

Abstract

This paper gives a thorough analysis of the thesis of Clash of Civilisations by Samuel P. Huntington and its applicability to the modern international relations. It frames the discussion in the context of global order of the twenty first century which is in a change whereby the role of religion, identity and culture henceforth determines the relationships between states and transnational. The research takes a case study approach of qualitative study, studying two prominent but understudied settings, namely Nigeria-Israel relations and Muslim solidarity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Based on secondary information gathered through scholarly literature, documents of the diplomatic archives, and other foreign reports during the period of 2020-2025, the analysis probes on the manner in which the notions of civilisational identity that are imagined as a sense of belonging entrenched in common religious and cultural discourses still impact the global alignments and perceptions of the self and the other. Results suggest that despite the fact that in the globalised world, civilisation lines are being erased by means of cultural hybridisation and digital interconnectivity. Within the study, the author observe an irony; although civilisational narratives have the potential to make people across national boundaries feel connected and sympathetic, they also threaten to strengthen polarised fault lines that perpetuate conflict. Critics have long held that Huntington is too deterministic and essentialist but evidence of recent crises, including the 2023-2025 Gaza escalations provides an outlook that identity-based solidarities still have a significant explanatory role to play. The author proposes a new and empirically based approach to the clash of civilisations debate one that integrates the cultural analysis with constructivist and post-globalisation approaches

Keywords

Clash of Civilisations , civilisational identity , religion , globalisation , international relations

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