The Clash of Civilisations (1996) by Samuel P. Huntingdon

Meeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on August 28, we will be discussing Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations (1996). We meet on the top floor in the semi-private 'Two Tables Room.'

Huntington's main argument is that after the Cold War, future global conflicts would be cultural - rather than ideological or economic. The main fault lines of conflict, he argued, would be religious, cultural and historical.

He identified 8 world civilizations including Western and Islamic (with its 'bloody borders').

The work was heavily criticized by the left, such as by Palestinian activist and professor of English, Edward Said, who called the work a 'clash of ignorance.' Edward Said wrote about similar issues in his famous work, Orientalism.

The format of the discussion is that we focus on discussing the book for about an hour - discussing the arguments of the book - in favor and against. The meeting formally ends but almost everyone stays behind to talk more about the book or anything else. We meet on the top floor, which means negotiating two sets of small stairs. There is no minimum spend - people can buy food, a drink, or neither. Ask at the bar for details in finding us.