Sociology and political science are clearly not categorized as exact sciences. It is difficult to find positions in them that have the status of immutable truths. The reasoning of the most respected scholars with such a specialization seems abstract and divorced from the real life of the "little man." But there are theories on the basis of which the foreign and domestic policies of individual states and global international communities are formed. That is why they become relevant.
Samuel Huntington - an American writer, sociologist and political scientist - the author of many such theories. His books often contained thoughts that at first seemed too radical, and then turned out to be an objective commentary on what was happening.
Childhood and youth
He was born in New York in the spring of 1927, in a family associated with literary activity. His father, Richard Thomas Huntington, was a journalist, his mother, Dorothy Sanborn Phillips, was a writer, and his maternal grandfather, John Phillips, was a well-known publisher. The choice of a profession related to intellectual activity seems therefore natural. Samuel Phillips Huntington has become a worthy successor of family traditions, writing a total of 17 books and more than 90 voluminous scientific articles.
The standard places for families of this level also seem to be the places chosen for Sam to get an education. First it’s Stuyvesant High School in New York, then an undergraduate course at Yale University in New Haven - 1946, then a magistrate in political science at the University of Chicago (1948) and finally Harvard, where Samuel Huntington in 1951 received his doctorate in Philosophy and Political Science.
What was unusual was that he successfully coped with the university curriculum in a much shorter time than usual. So, having entered Yale at 16, he graduated from it not after four years, but after 2.5. A break in his studies was a short-term service in the US Army in 1946, before entering a magistracy.
Professor and Consultant
After receiving a degree, he goes to work as a teacher in his alma mater - Harvard. There he worked intermittently for almost half a century - until 2007. Only from 1959 to 1962 he was deputy director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting at another famous American university - Columbia.
There was a period in his life when he was in close contact with current high-level politicians. In 1968, he was a foreign policy consultant for presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey, and from 1977 to 1978, Samuel Huntington served in the administration of President Jimmy Carter as coordinator for planning at the National Security Council. Many presidents and secretaries of state listened attentively to his opinion, while Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski considered Huntington to be their personal friend.
Prolific writer
All the time, free from teaching and social activities, he devoted to writing books. They are filled with an analysis of the current foreign and domestic policies of the leading countries of the world and a forecast of the development of both regional and global processes. Originality of thinking, great erudition and high personal qualities earned him authority and respect among colleagues. An indicator of this was the fact that leading political scientists and sociologists in the United States elected him for the post of president of the American Political Science Association.
In 1979, he founded the journal Foreign Policy, which became one of the most respected publications in the field of international relations. It remains the same today, once every two months, publishing including the annual Globalization Index and the Rating of Loser Governments.
The book that created the name
The first book that created Huntington's reputation as an original thinker and thoughtful scientist was the work Soldier and the State. Theory and politics of civil-military relations. " In it, he considered the problem of effective public, civilian control over the armed forces.
Huntington analyzes the moral and social condition of the officer corps, he studies the military-historical experience of the past - first worldwide - from the time of the 17th century, then the one that was acquired during armed conflicts in the United States and overseas, where the American expeditionary force was sent. The book reflected the then political situation of the outbreak of the Cold War. Conclusion of the scientist: effective control of the army on the part of society should be based on its professionalization, on the full improvement of the status of people who have dedicated their lives to military service.
Like many other publications, this book provoked fierce debate, but soon many of its ideas formed the basis of the army’s reforms in the country.
“Political Order in Changing Societies” (1968)
In this study, an American political scientist conducts a detailed analysis of the socio-political situation in the world by the end of the 60s of the XX century. It was characterized, among other things, by the emergence of a whole community of countries, mainly from former colonies that got out of control of the metropolises and chose their development path against the backdrop of the confrontation of global ideological systems, the leaders of which were the USSR and the USA. This situation led to the emergence of the term "third world countries."
This book is now considered a classic of comparative political science. And after the release, she was severely criticized by apologists for the theory of modernization, popular at that time among Western political scientists. Huntington buries this theory in his work, showing it as a naive attempt to impose a democratic path of development for developing countries through the promotion of progressive views.
"The Third Wave: Democratization at the End of the 20th Century" (1991)
Most of the book is devoted to the substantiation of the sinusoidal nature of the world process of movement of countries towards democratic forms of the state. After the rise in this movement (Huntington counted three waves: 1828-1926, 1943-1962, 1974-?), A decline (1922-1942, 1958-1975) follows.
The concept of an American scientist is based on the following provisions:
- Democratization is a global process that has common trends and particular cases.
- Democracy has the character of self-worth without pragmatic goals.
- The variety of forms of a democratic order.
- Democratization does not end at the end of the 20th century; some countries may roll back and the 4th wave will advance in the next century.
Theory of Civilizations
The book “Clash of Civilizations” (1993) made Huntington's name famous all over the world, causing at the same time especially fierce disputes that went beyond the borders of the United States. According to the scientist, in the coming 21st century, the decisive factor for the world order will be the interaction of different cultures or civilizations formed by a commonality of languages and lifestyles.
In addition to Western civilization, Huntington has eight more such entities: Slavic-Orthodox, led by Russia, Japanese, Buddhist, Hindu, Latin American African, Sin (Chinese) and Islamic civilization. The scientist assigns the role of the main lines of future conflicts to the boundaries of these formations.
Tragedy as an argument in discussion
Having published in three years the book “The Clash of Civilizations and the Reorganization of the World Order”, the writer raised the discussion even further above his theory. In the events of the tragic day of September 11, 2001, many, especially Americans, saw additional confirmation of the correct predictions of the famous political scientist, the personification of the confrontation that had begun between different civilizations.
Although many political scientists report a negative attitude towards the Huntington theory by US academic circles, there is an opinion that after the attacks, accompanied by Islamic slogans that swept the world, the “theory of civilizations” was finally adopted by the ruling circles of the United States.
Happy family man
A man who spoke out on the pages of his books sometimes very decisively and who knew how to persistently and adamantly defend his opinion in public disputes, Samuel Huntington was very modest and balanced in everyday life. He lived for more than half a century with his wife Nancy, raising two sons and four grandchildren.
The last major work of the scientist was published in 2004. In the book "Who We Are? Challenges of American National Identity," he analyzes the origin and attributes of this concept and tries to predict what problems await American national identity in the future.
In 2007, Huntington was forced to end his professorship at Harvard due to poor health due to complications of diabetes. He worked at his desk until the last day, until at the end of December 2008 he passed away in the town of Martas-Vinyard in Massachusetts.
In his earthly existence, an end has been set, but the discussions generated by his books around the world will not subside for a very long time.