A Good Reminder on how the West is not Necessarily Universal

Title: The West Unique not Universal
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Publication Date: 1996


"The West Unique Not Universal" is an article written by Samuel P. Huntington which details his argument against the idea that Western countries like North America and Europe are very influential until the extent that their culture is universal. In his article, he begins with how the Coca-Colonization has gave the wrong impression that Western culture is universal as well as how the idea global modernization is directly linked to Westernization is misguided, false and even arrogant. Later in his article, Samuel P. Huntington described the core characteristics of Western civilization which makes it a unique civilization compared to other civilizations in history. Huntington later explained how different countries around the world modernize yet adhere to their traditions and culture, which further enforced his argument that modernization does not necessarily mean westernization. He even stated a point on how modernization and economic development actually produced a cultural backlash as non Western countries who modernized renewed their commitment to their indigenous culture. Finally he described how Western countries can secure their influence in the global arena by strongly emphasizing on unity through multilateral policies. Seeing that the author made a lot of good points, we mostly agree with his main premise that the West is unique but not necessarily universal.

The author's first point on how the consumption of Western products by foreign consumers does not Westernized their mentality as the heart of culture consists of language, religion, values, traditions and customs is indeed correct. Language, religion and especially values have been embedded into an individual for most of his or her life and it is just difficult to believe that foreign products is capable of eroding the culture, values and customs of an individual. Of course one might argue about the Westernization of Japan during the Meiji era where most of the Japanese population embraced western culture to the extent of not only adopting their technology but also dressing and behaving like a Westerner, nevertheless, that did not change their way of thinking and there were always more than a handful of Japanese who remained loyal to their traditional roots and culture.

The author’s second point on modernization as a means of embracing Westernization which is not only flawed but also misleading is another idea that cannot be debated. Many believe and some even try to promote the idea that modernization equals Westernization can be explained by the historical roots of Western civilization as the first civilization to modernize. By studying the definition of modernization, the phenomena itself can be described as the industrialization, urbanization, expanding education, mobilizing the social structure and diversifying the occupational structures of a country. Many developing Eastern countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China have modernized their countries and in fact they continue to do so to keep up with globalization, nevertheless these countries remain loyal to their traditions and in fact are against Western policies, cultures and beliefs.

The authors points on what makes Western civilization a unique one compared to other civilization is mostly true except for a couple of points. The author was correct on how Western civilization was the only civilization to adopt the classical legacy, to embrace Western Christendom, to separate spiritual authority from the state, have multiple European languages and was the pioneer of individualism. The authors point on how Western civilization's tradition of rule of law which laid the basis for constitutionalism and the preservation of human rights is true; however, the author's emphasis on how this criteria made the West unique due to the fact that "other civilizations law has been much a less important factor in shaping thought and behaviour" is not only questionable but ignorant at a certain extent. Rules and laws itself regardless of which civilization it is embedded in serves the main purpose of maintaining peace and order as well as upholding justice in society through the means of punishment if they were violated or broken. The idea of punishment as a way to ensure every individual abide by the law is sufficient enough to shape the thought and behaviour of the people to obey the law at all times as the thought of experiencing punishment is dreadful and even painful. Of course this does not mean that there will not be any law breakers but the main idea here is that punishment itself would suffice to influence the thought and behaviour of the people within the circle of society that the law applies to. Another questionable point that the author made was how Western civilization was the first one to feature social pluralism where there were plenty of diverse autonomous groups not based on blood relationship or marriage such as monasteries, monastic orders and guilds. In Eastern civilization like ancient China, there were plenty of organization where members had no blood relationship like the boxers associations (Kung-Fu clans), trading guilds, performing troupes, opera groups and even pirates; this was enough to contradict with the author's point on how social pluralism is a unique attribute of Western civilization.

The first civilization to use mercenaries and the only civilization that extensively hired mercenaries is a core characteristic of Western civilization that the author left out. Western civilization was known for their affiliations with mercenaries to settle regional conflicts. This can be illustrated through the use of mercenaries in the Hundred Years War, the Punic Wars and the Battle of Thermopylae to name a few. In fact, not many are aware that before there were state armies in Europe, there were private armies employed by European kings as the kings were afraid that the state armies would turn against them. Another remarkable point to note about Western civilization and their mercenaries is the fact that how mercenaries from medieval European slowly evolve into today's more structured and ethical Private Military Companies that are operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia or other conflict-ridden hot spots. What is even more amazing is that most Private Military Companies in the world today originated from the countries of Western civilizations.

As Huntington proceeds further into his article, he mentioned how modernization and economic development produced cultural backlash. The idea alone was difficult to understand initially; nevertheless the author gave not only a logical explanation but also a good one. He mentioned how modernization enhances economic wealth and military power of the country as a whole which later leads to confidence and cultural assertiveness. This greatly makes sense as when an individual or a nation achieves success, it not only gives them the confidence but also a certain amount of ego and arrogance which explains the cultural assertiveness. The author made a very good point on this part of the article; however he could have added how a country's nationalism can be enforced through the confidence and cultural assertiveness upon achieving economic and military success. Nationalism from Eastern countries can itself be another reason to defy Westernization.

Before Huntington ended his article, he recommended how Western countries can secure their influence in the global arena by strongly emphasizing on unity through multilateral policies among Western countries. It is not difficult to understand why unity is required to enforce Western influence in the global arena. However, ideas like forbidding non-Western countries to participate in NATO is a bit disturbing especially when NATO is an influential military alliance in the world. Such idea presents a significant form of segregation in the global security community and especially with the war on terror escalating, the last thing the world wants is the hiding of military and counter-terrorism intelligence from one another.

In conclusion, Huntington's "The West Unique Not Universal" is a good article and it deserves attention as it is an eye opener to many who agrees that modernization is Westernization in addition to the thought that Westernization should be universal. Furthermore, this article exposes the unique characteristics of Western civilization that not many are aware of.