World Politics in the Future: the Conflict between the West and the Rest - Literature review Example

Running Head: World Politics "The central axis of world politics in the future is likely to be ... the conflict between the west and the rest" Samuel Huntington. [Writer’s Name] [Institution’s Name] World Politics Abstract Politics of the twentieth century needs more than just an interpretation and accurate analysis. More in depth knowledge is needed to relate the events occurring in the world of politics. This interpretation and analysis is necessary so that leaders and citizens at a global level can use the knowledge to make better changes and sound decisions which can lead to improved changes in future. The main tools that can make the world a better place are informed interpretations of events as to how and why are they occurring. Introduction According to Weiss, et al. (2007) politics these days is following different trends that lead to many different events happening and their effects are seen to be effective at a global scale. The events following such political trends affect everyone. Therefore, one needs to think about the trends in the political scenario that are to be noticed in future as these trends in a collective manner may affect international relations as well. An understanding of the unveiling trends has become a need of a common global citizen. These can also have everlasting effects on the future. There is a need to interpret and analyze the political trends. As Rourke and Boyer (2001) say, the world today is a happening place as newspapers are full of daily occurrences. Bloodshed in Iraq; the rising and thus, fluctuating oil prices; fluctuating prices of the Euro that relates to the prices of all the currencies in the world; these include the events related to the global crisis or the global crunch. Even weather changes can be classified with the mentioned events. These are some examples where global citizens might think that it is a turbulent period for the world as the events represent such catastrophic events that can disturb people on an international scale. According to Armstrong, Farrell, and Maiguashca (2003) one cannot stop but think that the turbulent events, in whatever form, are the ones that affect every human being on this planet in one way or the other. The meaning and rationale of these events need to be understood and all these events need to be interpreted in a better manner. This is one of the most difficult tasks the global citizens are facing today. Franke (2001) says that global trends are a part of international relations and therefore, an analysis of human behaviors in the case of international relations is the toughest job one can have. Berenskoetter and Williams (2007) say that in this case assumptions and perceptions play the least role. Some of the people, even without having proper and sound knowledge, can presume that the situation of individuals can also imply this. In some cases leaders and individuals are prone to ignoring the facts that are opposite to the values and beliefs that they hold. Harff and Gurr (2003) say that being at a very important seat, the president of United States has the responsibility that means that the assumptions made at this point are the ones that represent the core facts and realities. The interpretation of global events, the explication of global problems, explaining the policies is the responsibility on the shoulders of those people who sit on representative seats. Hanson (2008) says that in this case there are many theories made and they, in fact, emerge from a set of assumptions that the person or a group of people from the higher authority have. There are different ways to look at the events that are happening on a global perspective. This means that paradigms that have been raised over the past years, because of different perspectives of looking into the events, have also started to make their influences on judgments. Hey (2003) says assumptions and paradigms are the role players on the backstage and their role is not as important as that of the realm. Realism views the state as the most important actor on the world stage as state holders are the ones who have the power of territory with no one being higher to them. Here the use of liberal theory can be taken into account. It means that the paradigm or assumptions that are made on the hope and application as well as implementation of ethics in international politics and international relations can make the world a liberal and cooperative place to live in. Keene (2002) adds that international politics, including politics from the West, will raise several conflicts that will be based not only on the theories that have been raised here but also the economic conflicts. In this case a greater source of conflicts that is going to be diversified as time passes, would be based on cultures. And these are the cultural conflicts that are going to create divides among humans. In this light it can be said that nation states can be the most powerful as well as influential players in international politics. The main conflicts that will add up to politics is the occurrence of conflicts rising at a higher level between the politicians, the different states and nations as well as some of the groups that belong to different cultures and civilizations. Here it is being believed by Huntington that the age and older times of the theories and ideologies has concluded itself. He has said that the time today is a time of logics and rationales that need to be applied at every level of the events that are happening. Huntington has also added to the fact that as the age of ideologies concludes itself the world returns to the phase of equilibrium. According to Huntington, future conflicts that the world is going to face at a global level are going to be related to cultural and religious issues and they will have a wide range. The issues will range from violations of human rights in different nations and states, to the matters concerned with illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, trade and commerce issues and terrorism issues. These issues will most probably disturb the global equilibrium, bringing the world back to turmoil. As awareness of global citizens increases it is of no surprise that the issues will also be inclusive of all environment related matters. Kegley and Wittkopf (2008) add that if the conflicts of cultures and civilizations are elaborated, it is to be noticed that concepts relating to different civilizations has the highest rank among culture and identities related to cultures. Huntington has added that these are the cultural identities and concepts that can be used in future for an analysis of international conflicts that arise on a daily basis. Potentials for conflicts that may arise in the future can be better analyzed by using these concepts. The clash and conflicts based on civilizations are going to dominate the world in future. Politics on a global level will be discussing and designing the solutions to the clash of civilizations. The clash of civilizations means that there will be some errors – major errors – committed by civilizations and not understanding this fact will, in the future create newer and greater ways to the wars on an international level. This is the main idea that has been expressed by Huntington in his book published in the year of 1996 “the clash of civilizations and the making of the new world order”. Nye (2004) adds that the theory that is given by Huntington is reflective of the importance of social as well as cultural interests. These interests are to be realized in terms of their importance in relation to international relations and these can be regarded as the major case of frictions in bilateral relations between the countries. There is a range of socio-cultural issues. However, concerning the modern times, socio-cultural issues in this case includes the relationship between God and man, the relationship of an individual with the group, the relationship of a citizen with the state and country, as well as the views that a person can have on the rights of people in various aspects including liberty and authority. These are the major kinds of issues that define civilizations. These are the issues that create differences within the civilizations. As Huntington says, conflicts will always take place wherever differences arise in cultures and civilizations. These are the days when politics is entering newer and newer phases and eras. These are the changes that are analyzed by intellectuals and they have not hesitated to make an analysis that will lead to the discovery of a newer phase of politics on a global channel. There are visions in this case that have been taken into account including the clash of civilization based on tribalizations and conclusion of history, including globalism. Here we cannot ignore the point that these are the aspects reflecting the true face of reality to come in the next few years. Rourke and Boyer (2001) say that the latest phase of conflicts in the modern world is going to be based on civilizations. Here it is not wrong to say that conflicts will have a newer and more evolved face. In the year of 1993, Huntington said that the post cold war world will be one that changes into the most dominant seven or eight main civilization and these civilizations are reasons of rising conflicts between the different worlds. Huntington has said that the differences can lead to conflicts. It has been noticed in previous years that the differences may lead to several conflicts. The conflicts may be violent in many cases so this may lead to inter-civilization conflicts in the future. However, it is not always necessary that conflicts would lead to violence. Rosenau (2006) says that the world’s political instability can be linked to the world’s economic instability. Economic instability can be linked to efforts made for the pursuit of oil and profits. The constant incoming profits from oil in Iraq are thought to be illegitimate as well as impossible because of reasons such as that war is illegal and is started in the name of material gains such as acquiring oil. The second reason to force war on other countries is to take away the resources of that country for profits as the countrymen have the rights to use the material as they wish. Dollar is one of the most important currencies in the world and Euro is the currency growing on the scales. Thereby, it is the main threat to dollars. Euros are, in an indirect sense, coming from Iraq as in the year of 1999 oil transactions were shifted to Euros in Iraq. Here the economic hegemony can be related to the global political turmoil as an emphasis in this case needs to be made on the US military as well as political power. US needs to stabilize the economic turmoil so as to stabilize the economic hegemony. The World systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein has truly said that US is on a decline on a global scale and the only way to stop this decline is by making use of the military forays that US has. The world cultural hegemony is the variant that has reduced the efforts of US to maintain as well as to establish the US culture’s dominance on the world. Here the crude cultural stereotyping is emphasized by the ideology and theories that have been given by Huntington. This ideology has postulated the newer forms of cold war theories that occur between communism and cold war. This theory has replaced the mutual inaptness between the West and the rest of the world. Some parts from Huntington’s thesis suggest that the western European civilizations should be moving forward with unification that it has to create among civilizations. Policy frameworks are still needed so that the countries can unite into one platform as this can help the generation of economic as well as political unification and stability on a global platform. In this case the western ideologies, if being the supremacist, need to be resisted on a crucial scale as these have a damaging and dividing role on the eastern side of the world. In this case a dislike has risen in the case of United States where the only concerns are for oil. Here, however, the wheel has spun to the axis of diesel these days in which countries such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela are involved. The urges and demands are all for the oils and diesels. These days politics is all emphasized on oil and diesel resources in eastern countries. The wars and the brawl over oil resources has been seen by the world as in Iraq and now Iran is another issue in this case. The west has concern for oil and profits related to oil. This makes the concern of the Western world separate from that of the rest of the world. The Western policies are the ones that affect the rest of the world and this is the main rationale that lies behind the fact that political changes will be the ones that separate the West from other parts. Conclusion US is the most powerful country as it spends the largest amount of money on military, has the highest GDP in the world and has the highest relative population size as well in comparison with the other nations. The political as well as economic situation thereby travels from the US to the other parts of the world. The political changes that are occurring in the world are being diverged from the western side as western administration is after oil politics and maintenance of wealth achieved from oil in the eastern countries. US needs to take the stands and make changes that not only stabilize international politics but also the economy. References Armstrong, David., Farrell, Theo., and Maiguashca, Bice. (2003). Governance and resistance in world politics. Cambridge University Press. Berenskoetter, Felix., and Williams, J. Michael. (2007). Power in World Politics. Routledge Franke, N. F. Mark.(2001). Global limits: Immanuel Kant, international relations, and critique of world politics. SUNY Press. Hanson, C. Elizabeth.(2008). The information revolution and world politics. Rowman & Littlefield. Harff, Barbara., and Gurr, Robert, Ted.(2003). Ethnic conflict in world politics. 2nd edition. Westview Press. Hey, K. A. Jeanne. (2003). Small states in world politics: explaining foreign policy behavior. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Keene, Edward. (2002). Beyond the anarchical society: Grotius, colonialism and order in world politics. Cambridge University Press. Kegley, W. Charles., and Wittkopf, R. Eugene. (2008).World Politics: Trend and Transformation. 12th edition. Cengage Learning EMEA. Nye, S. Joseph. (2004). Soft power: the means to success in world politics. Public Affairs. Rosenau, N. James. (2006). The Study of World Politics: Globalization and governance. Routledge. Rourke, T. John., and Boyer, A. Mark. (2001). World Politics: International Politics on the World Stage, Brief. 4th edition. McGraw-Hill College, Weiss, George, Thomas., Forsythe, P. David., Coate, A. Roger., and Pease, Kate, Kelly. (2007). The United Nations and changing world politics. 5th edition. Westview Press, Read More