The Myth of the "Civilization State": Rising Powers and the Cultural Challenge to World Order. Issue 2 (2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Acharya, Amitav
• Is Part Of: Ethics & international affairs. Volume 34:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 139
• Page End: 156
• Publication Date: 2020
• Subjects: civilization, -- civilization states, -- clash of civilizations thesis, -- liberal international order, -- multiplex world, -- rising powers, -- China, -- India, -- Russia, -- Turkey; International relations -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; 172.405
• DOI: 10.1017/S0892679420000192
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0892-6794

Abstract

Abstract: "Civilization" is back at the forefront of global policy debates. The leaders of rising powers such as China, India, Turkey, and Russia have stressed their civilizational identity in framing their domestic and foreign policy platforms. An emphasis on civilizational identity is also evident in U.S. president Donald Trump's domestic and foreign policy. Some analysts argue that the twenty-first century might belong to the civilization state, just as the past few centuries were dominated by the nation-state. But is the rise of civilization state inevitable? Will it further undermine the liberal international order and fuel a clash of civilizations, as predicted by the late Samuel Huntington? Or might ideas from East Asian and other non-Western civilizations contribute to greater pluralism in our thinking about world order and the study of international relations?