Essays

The Clash of Civilizations Revisited

– Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations Revisited. New Perspectives Quarterly v. 30, n. 4 (2013): 46-54.
My view is that relations between countries in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries rather than other factors. Quite obviously, power will continue to play a central… More

How Countries Democratize

– Huntington, Samuel P. "How Countries Democratize." Political Science Quarterly v. 124, n. 1 (2009): 31.
Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This “global democratic revolution” is probably the most important… More

The Hispanic Challenge

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Hispanic Challenge." Foreign Policy v. 141 (2004): 30-45.
The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages. Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead… More

One Nation, Out of Many

– Huntington, Samuel P. "One Nation, Out of Many." The American Enterprise v. 15, n. 6, (2004): 20.
America’s core culture has primarily been the culture of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century settlers who founded our nation. The central elements of that culture are the Christian religion; Protestant values, including individualism, the work ethic,… More

Are We A Nation “Under God”?

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Are We A Nation "Under God”?" The American Enterprise v. 15, n. 5, (2004): 18.
As this issue of The American Enterprise goes to press this June, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether the words “under G-d” in the Pledge of Allegiance are a violation of the separation of church and state. In 2002, a three-judge panel… More

Dead Souls

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Dead Souls." The National Interest v. 75, n. 5 (2004): 5.
Debates over national identity are a pervasive characteristic of our time. In part, they raise rhetorical questions, but they also have profound implications for American society and American policy at home and abroad. Different perceptions–especially… More

Getting Me Wrong [with Reply]

– Huntington, Samuel P and Alan Wolfe. "Getting Me Wrong [with Reply]." Foreign Affairs v. 83, n. 5 (2004): 155-159.
In evaluating a novel, a poem, or a scholarly study, it can be useful and insightful to consider that work in the context of the author’s other writings, if those exist. For social science, the relevant questions concern how the recent work embodies… More

Two Wests

– Huntington, Samuel P and Anthony Giddens.  "Two Wests." New Perspectives Quarterly v. 20, n. 4 (2003): 37-43.
The central division in the West is one which so many people have focused on: the difference in power between the United States and Europe. This division naturally gives rise to antagonisms, and, at times, conflicts, and certainly to differences in… More

Osama bin Laden Has Given Common Identity Back to the West

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Osama bin Laden Has Given Common Identity Back to the West." New Perspectives Quarterly v. 19, n. 1 (2003): 5-8.
Osama bin Laden has declared war on Western civilization, and in particular the United States. If the Muslim community to which Bin Laden is appealing rallies to him, then it will become a clash of civilizations. So far, they appear deeply divided. Bin Laden… More

The Special Case of Mexican Immigration

– Huntington, Samuel P, Georgie Anne Geyer, Peter Skerry, Linda Chavez, and Barbara Curtis. "The Special Case of Mexican Immigration." The American Enterprise v. 11, n. 8 (2000): 20.
America is often described as a country defined by a commitment to a creed formulated in the writings of our Founders. But American identity is only partly a matter of creed. For much of our history we also defined ourselves in racial, religious, ethnic, and… More

Try Again: A Reply to Russett, Oneal & Cox

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Try Again: A Reply to Russett, Oneal & Cox." Journal of Peace Research v. 37, n. 5 (2000): 609-610.
Russett, Oneal & Cox (2000) (henceforth RO&C) claim that their analysis of militarized interstate disputes between 1950 and 1992 provides a test of my hypotheses concerning clashes of civilizations. It does nothing of the kind, and their claim that it… More

Robust Nationalism

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Robust Nationalism." The National Interest v. 58 (2000): 31.
Is there such a thing as a conservative foreign policy? There was during the Cold War, but now the answer appears to be “no.” People who consider themselves conservative and are so considered by others hold widely different views on the general… More

The Lonely Superpower

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Lonely Superpower." Foreign Affairs v. 78, n. 2 (1999): 35.
During the past decade global politics has changed fundamentally in two ways. First, it has been substantially reconfigured along cultural and civilizational lines, as I have highlighted in the pages of this journal and documented at length in The Clash of… More

After Twenty Years: The Future of the Third Wave

– Huntington, Samuel P. "After Twenty Years: The Future of the Third Wave." Journal of Democracy v. 8, n. 4 (1997): 3-12.
Some five hundred years ago a small group of Portuguese leaders and thinkers — including King John II, Prince Henry the Navigator, Bartholomew Dias, and Vasco da Gama — acting with courage, determination, and imagination, inaugurated a new phase… More

The Erosion of American National Interests

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Erosion of American National Interests." Foreign Affairs v. 76, n. 5 (1997): 28.
The years since the end of the Cold War have seen intense, wide-ranging, and confused debates about American national interests. Much of this confusion stems from the complexity of the post-Cold War world. The new environment has been variously interpreted as… More

Democracy for the Long Haul

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Democracy for the Long Haul." Journal of Democracy v. 7, n. 2 (1996): 3-13.
I was last in Taipei in January 1989, participating in a conference on political change in Taiwan co-sponsored by the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University and the Harvard Center for International Affairs. At that time, as a… More

The West: Unique, Not Universal

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The West: Unique, Not Universal." Foreign Affairs v. 75, n. 6 (1996): 28.
In recent years Westerners have reassured themselves and irritated others by expounding the notion that the culture of the West is and ought to be the culture of the world. This conceit takes two forms. One is the Coca-colonization thesis. Its proponents… More

Why International Primacy Matters

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Why International Primacy Matters." International Security v. 17, n. 4 (1993): 68-83.
Does international primacy matter? The answer seems so obvious that one first wonders why someone as intelligent, perceptive, and knowledgeable as Robert Jervis raises the question. On further thought, however, one sees that while the answer may be obvious… More

If Not Civilizations, What? Paradigms of the Post-Cold War World

– Huntington, Samuel P. "If Not Civilizations, What? Paradigms of the Post-Cold War World." Foreign Affairs v. 72, n. 5 (1993): 186-194.
When people think seriously, they think abstractly; they conjure up simplified pictures of reality called concepts, theories, models, paradigms. Without such intellectual constructs, there is, William James said, only “a bloomin’ buzzin’… More

Democracy’s Third Wave

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Democracy’s Third Wave." Journal of Democracy, v. 2, n. 2 (1991): 12-34.
Between 1974 and 1990, at least 30 countries made transitions to democracy, just about doubling the number of democratic governments in the world. Were these democratizations part of a continuing and everexpanding “global democratic revolution”… More

The U.S.: Decline or Renewal?

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The U.S.: Decline or Renewal?" Foreign Affairs v. 67, n. 2 (1988): 76-96.
In 1988 the United States reached the zenith of its fifth wave of declinism since the 1950s. The roots of this phenomenon lie in the political economy literature of the early 1980s that analyzed the fading American economic hegemony and attempted to identify… More

Coping with the Lippmann Gap

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Coping with the Lippmann Gap." Foreign Affairs v. 66, n. 3 (1987): 453-477.
Foreign policy,” wrote Walter Lippmann in 1943 in an oft-quoted phrase, “consists in bringing into balance, with a comfortable surplus of power in reserve, the nation’s commitments and the nation’s power.” If this balance exists, the… More

Will More Countries Become Democratic?

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Will More Countries Become Democratic?" Political Science Quarterly v. 99, n. 2 (1984): 193-218.
What are the prospects for the emergence of more democratic regimes in the world? This question has intellectual and policy relevance for the 1980s. During the 1950s and early 1960s, scholars concerned with this issue were generally optimistic that… More

Conventional Deterrence and Conventional Retaliation in Europe

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Conventional Deterrence and Conventional Retaliation in Europe." International Security v. 8, n. 3 (1983): 32-56.
For a quarter century the slow but continuing trend in NATO strategy – and in thinking about NATO strategy – has been from emphasis on nuclear deterrence to emphasis on conventional deterrence. When it became clear that the famous Lisbon force… More

Reform and Stability in South Africa

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Reform and Stability in South Africa." International Security v. 6, n. 4 (1982): 3-25.
“Multi-ethnic or multi-racial systems can be classified as vertical or hierarchical, on the one hand, and horizontal or parallel on the other. In a vertical or hierarchical system, “stratification is synonymous with ethnicity”; in a… More

American Ideals versus American Institutions

– Huntington, Samuel P. "American Ideals versus American Institutions." Political Science Quarterly v. 97, n. 1 (1982): 1-37.
Throughout the history of the United States a broad consensus has existed among the American people in support of liberal, democratic, individualistic, and egalitarian values. These political values and ideals constitute what Gunnar Myrdal termed “the… More

Trade, Technology, and Leverage: Economic Diplomacy

– Huntington, Samuel P, Franklyn Holzman, Richard Portes, John Kiser, Maurice J. Mountain, and Robert Klitgaard. "Trade, Technology, and Leverage: Economic Diplomacy." Foreign Policy v. 32 (1978): 63-106.
An effective and realistic approach to US-Soviet economic relations today must reflect the key characteristics of the current phase of the superpower relationship. This phase differs significantly form the wold war period, lasting roughly from the mid 1940s… More

Postindustrial Politics: How Benign Will It Be?

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Postindustrial Politics: How Benign Will It Be?" Comparative Politics v. 6 n. 2 (1974): 163-191.
The concept of postindustrial society was advanced in the early 1960s by Daniel Bell as a model of society comparable to, but significantly different from, models of industrial and agrarian society. In the following decade, the concept was elaborated by Bell,… More

Paradigms of American Politics: Beyond the One, the Two, and the Many

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Paradigms of American Politics: Beyond the One, the Two, and the Many." Political Science Quarterly v. 89, n. 1 (1974): 1-26.
“In American social studies,” Louis Hartz observed eighteen years ago, “we still live in the shadow of the Progressive era.” The book in which he wrote these words played a major and, in some respects, decisive role in dissipating that… More

Transnational Organizations in World Politics

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Transnational Organizations in World Politics." World Politics v. 25, n. 2 (1973): 333-368.
These organizations appear to have little in common. They are public and private, national and international, profit-making and charitable, religious and secular, civil and military, and, depending on one’s perspective, benign and nefarious. Yet they do… More

After Containment: The Functions of the Military Establishment

– Huntington, Samuel P. "After Containment: The Functions of the Military Establishment." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science v. 406 (1973): 1-16.
After World War II, the United States reconstituted its military policy for the third time in its history. A strategy of deterrence was adopted as the military counterpart to a foreign policy of containment. This strategy involved military alliances, overseas… More

The Change to Change: Modernization, Development, and Politics

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Change to Change: Modernization, Development, and Politics." Comparative Politics v. 3 n. 3 (1971): 283-322.
It was not until the mid-1950s that a renaissance in the study of comparative politics got under way. Concern with modernization and the comparison of modern and traditional political systems was the 1st stage of the renaissance. In the early 1960s it evolved… More

Foreign Aid for What and for Whom (II)

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Foreign Aid for What and for Whom (II)." Foreign Policy v. 2 (1971): 114-134.
“The year 1971 could be an historic one for US foreign aid. Congress and the President have the opportunity this year to make fundamental innovations. The effort is timely, for many of the programs of the past decade have already outlived their… More

Why “Foreign Policy”?

– Huntington, Samuel P. and Warren Demian Manshel. "Why "Foreign Policy"?" Foreign Policy v. 1 (1970): 3-5.

Foreign Aid for What and for Whom

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Foreign Aid for What and for Whom." Foreign Policy v. 1 (1970): 161-189.
“Foreign Aid: Billions in Search of a Good Reason” was the title of a 1963 Fortune article by Charles J. V. Murphy. Seven years later, the billions may be fewer in number, but the search for the good reason is all the more intense. The continued… More

Political Development and the Decline of the American System of World Order

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Political Development and the Decline of the American System of World Order." Daedalus  v. 96, n. 3 (1967): 927-929.
“By the year 2000 it should be clear retrospectively that the dominant feature of international politics during the thirty years after WWII was neither the East-West confrontation between the U.S. and the Sino-Soviet bloc nor the North-South conflict… More

The Political Modernization of Traditional Monarchies

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Political Modernization of Traditional Monarchies." Daedalus v. 95, n. 3 (1966): 763-788.
“The withering away of European colonial empires has virtually eliminated what was widely believed to be a highly anachronistic type of political order. There still remain, however, much more antique and even more curious political systems in which… More

Political Modernization: America vs. Europe

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Political Modernization: America vs. Europe." World Politics v. 18, n. 3 (1966): 378-414.
Political modernization involves, let us assume, three things. First, it involves the rationalization of authority: the replacement of a large number of traditional, religious, familial, and ethnic political authorities by a single, secular, national… More

Political Development and Political Decay

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Political Development and Political Decay." World Politics v. 17 (3) (1965): 386-430.
“Among the laws that rule human societies,” de Tocqueville said, “there is one which seems to be more precise and clear than all others. If men are to remain civilized or to become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in… More

Power, Expertise and the Military Profession

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Power, Expertise and the Military Profession." Daedelus v. 92, n. 4 (1963): 785-807.
Since 1945 the American military profession has been reeling under the impact of not one but two revolutions. The technological revolution has made the management of violence increasingly skilled, complex, and difficult.  The strategic revolution – the… More

Interservice Competition and the Political Roles of the Armed Services

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Interservice Competition and the Political Roles of the Armed Services." The American Political Science Review v. 55, n. 1 (1961): 40-52.
“Conventional wisdom” (to purloin a phrase from Galbraith) holds that interservice competition necessarily undermines economy, efficiency, and effective central control in the military establishment. The remedy is further unification, possibly even the… More

Equilibrium and Disequilibrium in American Military Policy

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Equilibrium and Disequilibrium in American Military Policy." Political Science Quarterly v. 76, n. 4 (1961): 481-502.
“For fifteen years American military policy has been in a state of turmoil and change. As a result, perhaps, stability has ranked high as a goal of military policy. In some respects the evolution of military policy between 1945 and 1960 can be described… More

Strategic Planning and the Political Process

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Strategic Planning and the Political Process." Foreign Affairs v. 38, n. 2 (1960): 285-299.
For a decade or more statesmen and scholars have been unhappy about American methods of making decisions on strategic programs–that is, decisions on the over-all size of the military effort, the scope and character of military programs (continental… More

Education and Military Leadership: A Study of the R.O.T.C. By Gene M. Lyons and John W. Masland

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Education and Military Leadership: A Study of the R.O.T.C. By Gene M. Lyons and John W. Masland." American Political Science Review v. 53, n. 4 (1959): 1154-1155.
“This book claims to be simple an historical and analytical study of the relationship of ROTC programs to higher education and national defense. It is, however, much more than that. For it is also a fascinating, detailed, balanced, and critical case… More

Communications

– Hacker, Louise M. and Samuel P. Huntington. "Communications." American Political Science Review v. 51, n. 4 (1957): 1062-1064.

Conservatism as an Ideology

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Conservatism as an Ideology." The American Political Science Review v. 51, n. 2 (1957): 454-473.
“Does conservative political thought have a place in America today? The answer to this question depends on the general nature of conservatism as in ideology: its distinguishing characteristics, its substance, and the conditions under which it arises. By… More

Civilian Control and the Constitution

– Huntington, Samuel P. "Civilian Control and the Constitution." American Political Science Review v. 50, n. 3 (1956): 676-699.
“Civilian control of the military is a basic principle of the American Constitution”; so runs the commonplace. It is the thesis of this article that the eliche could hardly be more inaccurate, for actually the American Constitution in the… More

The ICC Re-Examined: A Colloquy

– Huntington, Samuel P, CP Dickerman and Charles S. Morgan. The Yale Law Journal (1952): 44-63.
“Mr. Williams criticisms in Transportation Regulation are inefect limited to my recommendation in the Marasmus that the regulatory functions of the ICC should be placed within the Department of Commerce and should be subject to the general policy… More

The Marasmus of the ICC: The Commission, the Railroads, and the Public Interest

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Marasmus of the ICC: The Commission, the Railroads, and the Public Interest." The Yale Law Journal v. 61, n. 4 (Apr 1952): 467-509
“Among the myriad federal agencies concerned with transportation, the Interstate Commerce Commission has long been preeminent. It is the oldest transportation regulatory commission, and with the exception of the Corps of Engineers it is the oldest… More

The Election Tactics of the Nonpartisan League

– Huntington, Samuel P. "The Election Tactics of the Nonpartisan League." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. v.36, n. 4: 613-632.
“For many years a problem relating to the nature of the American party system has confronted politicians and reformers on one hand and historians and political scientists on the other. Can minority groups and reform movements best obtain their… More