Does the idea of a clash of civilisations hinder our understanding of world politics since 9/11?
The statement on whether the hypothesis of a clash of civilisations hinders our understanding of world politics from 9/11 henceforth requires an investigation into how and why a descriptive account of such clash of civilisations can be deduced from constituent premises in the first instance. Since these premises concern human nature, and its relation to the formation of a society, and how they fit together in a framework conducive to producing inter-civilisational conflicts is a product of reasoning, the hypothesis arguably offers a viable model to account for the current international system. Nevertheless, even though it encompasses different levels of analysis from man, civilisation, and the world at large, it concentrates on solely cultural factors and, the ways in which they can override other sectors of analysis in the discipline of international relations do not necessarily lead to enhancing our understanding of world politics. It is therefore essential to define the term ‘hinder
