Abstract
With the end of the Cold War, paradigms of the Cold War could not explain the emerging international environment. Therefore, Western authorities put forward various theories in order to elicit new order. One of those is Samuel Huntington's “clash of civilization” thesis. In his work, Huntington stated that with the end of the Cold War, basic element of the clashes was no longer ideological, instead economic and cultural. In this context, clashes would occur between civilization and religion would be the main source of clashes between civilizations. He allotted the large part of his work to the differences between the Western and Islam civilization. American Sniper were addressed and analysed according to four dogmas of Orientalism in Edward Said's book Orientalism. Accordingly, existence of the state of conflict between Western and Islam civilization mentioned in Huntington's work have been observed. It has been seen that civilization of Islam built as the adversary of the West have been deemed as other and created as enemy.
TopBackground: Clash Of Civilizations
Samuel Huntington claims that the World has entered a new phase with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and end of the long-drawn Cold War, which was “rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster” (history, 2019). According to him, unlike Cold War, rivalries, which was mainly ideological and economic, post-Cold War conflicts would occur between civilizations and clashes between civilizations would prevail among civilizations:
It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future (Huntington, 1993, p. 22).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Iraq War: The Iraq War was an armed conflict that began with the invasion of Iraq by the coalition led by United States of America in 2003.
Xenophobia: It is the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners.
Orientalism: It is a way of seeing that define, picturize, and distort non-Western cultures and worlds.
Clash of Civilizations: It is thesis that cultural differences will be the main source of conflict in the Post-Cold War world.
American Sniper: It is a 2014 American war drama directed by Clint Eastwood.
Hollywood Cinema: It is the most dominant and productive cinema industry in the world.
Discrimination: Treating a person or a particular group in a different and unfairly way.
Islamophobia: It is the hate and prejudice against religion of Islam and Muslims.