Samuel P. Huntington – författare

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 political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred.Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the ""snowballing"" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the ""torturer problem"" and the ""praetorian problem"" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues.Several ""Guidelines for Democratizers"" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.

In 1993 the esteemed journal FOREIGN AFFAIRS published an article entitled "The Clash of Civilizations?" by Samuel P. Huntington. According to the journal's editors it went on to generate more discussion than anything they had published since the Second World War. In the article, Huntington posed the question whether conflicts between civilizations would dominate the future of world politics. In the book, he gives the answer, showing not only how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Since September 11, his thesis has seemed even more prescient and acute. THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND THE REMAKING OF WORLD ORDER is now recognised as a classic study of international relations in an increasingly uncertain world.

Much discussed but poorly understood, globalization is at once praised as the answer to all the world's problems and blamed for everything from pollution to poverty. Here Berger and Huntington bring together an array of experts who paint a subtle and richly shaded portrait, showing both the power and the unexpected consequences of this great force.The stereotypes of globalization--characterized as American imperialism on the one hand, and as an economic panacea on the other--fall apart under close scrutiny. Surveying globalization from individual countries of the five major continents, Many Globalizations shows that an emerging global culture does indeed exist. While globalization is American in origin and content, the authors point out that it is far from a centrally directed force like classic imperialism. They examine the currents that carry this culture, from a worldwide class of young professionals to non-governmental organizations, and define globalization's many variations as well as sub-globalizations that bind regions together.Analytical, incisive and stimulating, Many Globalizations offers rare insight into perhaps the central issue of modern times, one that is changing the West as much as the developing world."Provocative.... Taken together, the trenchant, well-written essays included in this collection provide indisputable evidence that an identifiable global culture is indeed emerging."--World Policy Journal"Analytical and penetrating, belongs...on the desks of anyone with an abiding interest in the forces shaping the world."--Publishers Weekly

This now-classic examination of the development of viable political institutions in emerging nations is a major and enduring contribution to modern political analysis. In a new Foreword, Francis Fukuyama assesses Huntington’s achievement, examining the context of the book’s original publication as well as its lasting importance.“This pioneering volume, examining as it does the relation between development and stability, is an interesting and exciting addition to the literature.”—American Political Science Review“’Must’ reading for all those interested in comparative politics or in the study of development.”—Dankwart A. Rustow, Journal of International Affairs

Prominent scholars and journalists ponder the question of why, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world is more divided than ever between the rich and the poor, between those living in freedom and those under oppression.

This stunningly persuasive book examines the persistent, radical gap between the promise of American ideals and the performance of American politics. Samuel P. Huntington shows how Americans, throughout their history as a nation, have been united by the democratic creed of liberty, equality, and hostility to authority. At the same time he reveals how, inevitably, these ideals have been perennially frustrated through the institutions and hierarchies required to carry on the essential functions of governing a democratic society.From this antagonism between the ideals of democracy and the realities of power have risen four great political upheavals in American history. Every third generation, Huntington argues, Americans have tried to reconstruct their institutions to make them more truly reflect deeply rooted national ideals. Moving from the clenched fists and mass demonstrations of the 1960s, to the moral outrage of the Progressive and Jacksonian Eras, back to the creative ideological fervor of the American Revolution, he incisively analyzes the dissenters’ objectives. All, he pungently writes, sought to remove the fundamental disharmony between the reality of government in America and the ideals on which the American nation was founded.Huntington predicts that the tension between ideals and institutions is likely to increase in this country in the future. And he reminds us that the fate of liberty and democracy abroad is intrinsically linked to the strength of our power in world affairs. This brilliant and controversial analysis deserves to rank alongside the works of Tocqueville, Bryce, and Hofstadter and will become a classic commentary on the meaning of America.

At the request of the President of Harvard University, six Harvard scholars have joined forces to write a book that lays out the facts about nuclear weapons for all concerned citizens who want to think through the nuclear dilemma for themselves. Living with Nuclear Weapons is written by specialists for the general reader. It conveys crucial information clearly, concisely, and without technical jargon.Living with Nuclear Weapons presents all sides of the nuclear debate while explaining what everyone needs to know to develop informed and reasoned opinions about the issues. Among the specifics are a history of nuclear weaponry; an examination of current nuclear arsenals; scenarios of how a nuclear war might begin; a discussion of what can be done to promote arms control and disarmament; a study of the hazards of nuclear proliferation; an analysis of various nuclear strategies; and an explanation of how public opinion can influence policy on the nuclear arms question.

In a classic work, Samuel P. Huntington challenges most of the old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil–military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis.Part One presents the general theory of the "military profession," the "military mind," and civilian control. Huntington analyzes the rise of the military profession in western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and compares the civil–military relations of Germany and Japan between 1870 and 1945.Part Two describes the two environmental constants of American civil–military relations, our liberal values and our conservative constitution, and then analyzes the evolution of American civil–military relations from 1789 down to 1940, focusing upon the emergence of the American military profession and the impact upon it of intellectual and political currents.Huntington describes the revolution in American civil–military relations which took place during World War II when the military emerged from their shell, assumed the leadership of the war, and adopted the attitudes of a liberal society. Part Three continues with an analysis of the problems of American civil–military relations in the era of World War II and the Korean War: the political roles of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the difference in civil–military relations between the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, the role of Congress, and the organization and functioning of the Department of Defense. Huntington concludes that Americans should reassess their liberal values on the basis of a new understanding of the conservative realism of the professional military men.

När den amerikanske statsvetaren Samuel Huntingtons artikel Civilisationernas kamp ( The Clash of Civilizations ) publicerades för 30 år sedan uppstod en global debatt. Intresset blev så stort att den utvecklades till en bok. Uppståndelsen berodde på sprängkraften i Huntingtons tes. Världspolitiken var på väg in i en ny era där kulturella konflikter skulle bli de viktigaste. Efter kalla krigets slut väntade en civilisationernas kamp. Budskapet provocerade många som sett framför sig en mer fredlig och harmonisk utveckling efter kommunismens kollaps och demokratins utbredning. Huntingtons resonemang om en värld med konkurrerande kulturkretsar och civilisationer kallades fördomsfullt och okunnigt. Men utvecklingen har stärkt hans tes. Genom terrordåden den 11 september 2001, krigen i Afghanistan och Irak och i forna Jugoslavien började just konflikter mellan kulturer att dominera internationell politik. Det blev än tydligare när Kina och Ryssland alltmer kom in i bilden. Kriget i Ukraina har givit ytterligare aktualitet åt Huntingtons uppfattning att nya konflikter väntar. Debatten om Civilisationernas kamp är långtifrån avslutad. Boken som nu utkommer i ny utgåva, är nödvändig för att förstå vår samtid och framtid. Nyutgåvan har även ett reviderat förord av Svante Nordin, professor emeritus i idé- och lärdomshistoria vid Lunds universitet.