The British Catholic weekly The Table published an article criticizing Ratzinger's views on Aug. 21, 2004: "Cardinal Ratzinger's thesis is like the Catholic version of Samuel Huntington's famous clash of civilizations. If not actively opposed, these views may turn into reality." Certainly, British Catholics were stressing an important point.For many observers, Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis is currently being implemented. In this theory, Huntington was not describing "what is the case" with the neutrality of a scholar, but pointing out "how things should be" while trying to preserve his academic standing. In other words, he was trying to say "Let there be a clash of civilizations in the world." It was not coincidental that after Huntington had proposed his clash of civilizations thesis, the Republicans took the helm of the US administration and US foreign policy underwent a radical change.
Although it is Huntington who popularized the clash of civilizations thesis, the mastermind of this thesis is definitely not him, but the orientalist Bernard Lewis. Basically, Lewis had always argued that there was a conflict between Islam and Western Christianity arising from historical developments and that the West could only preserve its safety by keeping Islam under pressure and domination. In connection with Turkey's EU membership, Lewis stressed the same conflict and religion factors, cautioning Europe "once again" about the "historical and cultural threat" of Islam. Referring to the magnitude of the threat, Lewis said: "If Europe cannot deal with its own Islamic and Arab presence, then this job will be done by racists and fascists." For Lewis, Europe should keep the growth rate of Muslim populations under control and define rules for assimilation. Lewis predicts that Western Europe will be Islamicized if things keep going at this rate. "Europe will be a part of the Arab West or Maghreb. Migration and demography indicate this. Europeans marry late and have few or no children. But there's strong immigration: Turks in Germany, Arabs in France and Pakistanis in England. At the latest, following current trends, Europe will have Muslim majorities in the population at the end of the 21st century," he said. Lewis also finds it naive to regard Turkey's EU membership as "a bridge to the Islamic word," or "a model for the Arab world." (John Vinocur, International Herald Tribune, Sept. 21, 2004).
In a sense, Turkey's EU membership is closely related to the clash of civilization doctrine of Samuel Huntington, who wrote the book on the subject in 1993. Huntington stresses the following thesis in his latest book, "Who Are We?": "Historical experiences and sociological studies show that lack of the other outside will disrupt the integrity in society and focal groups. We do not know whether intermittent terrorist attacks and the strife with Iraq or deformed states will create a harmony similar to the one created by the wars in the 20th century."
Thus, Huntington sees history as the history of conflicts and wars and argues that social integrity can be preserved with reference to "the other" and proposes a conflict doctrine for the West so that it can maintain its internal harmony and integrity. In the 21st century, the other is Islam and the Muslim word. For Huntington, multiculturalism is dangerous, so the West must be in conflict with Islam in cultural terms. We can argue that the existing US policies largely rely on this doctrine. To some extent, Turkey's EU membership may serve to block this conflict doctrine that is manufacturing disasters for the world.
