The Clash of Civilisations or The End of History?

An analysis regarding North Africa and Europe

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: A / 1.0, University of Malta (Faculty of International Relations ), course: North Africa & International Order in the 21st Century , 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Introduction Samuel P. Huntington, notable political scientist and professor at Harvard University, raised a great discussion when his article 'The Clash of Civilizations?' was published in 1993. As a response to Francis Fukuyama's 'The End of History' - thesis, Huntington provides the post - Cold War world with a scheme of interpretation for the international relations of the multi-polarity which is to be found after 1989 up to date. Further, Huntington's main hypothesis states '[...] that the fundamental source of conflict [...] will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great division among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural.' In opposition, Fukuyama forehand ibidem una traho describes the global political order after the fall of the Iron Curtain as clearly defined: The end of history is reached since democracy will be the only reliable form of governance and state building, establishing in more and more countries throughout the world, regarding a long term spectrum of time. There is '[...] such a thing as a single, coherent modernisation process [...] ]leading[ to liberal democracy and market-oriented economies as the only viable choices.' This text will provide a short analysis of the countries of Northern Africa, namely Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, from the time of the twentieth century until to date. By doing so, particular emphasis will be put on cultural, historical and political aspects of the region, which, even that they might to a large extent be treatised individually, have to be examined as co-relating and inter-acting with each other, nonetheless. In the context of the a priori introduced contrary theses of Huntington versus Fukuyama,the contemporary situation regarding North Africa and Europe will be highlighted in order to face the question whether any one of these assertions might be taken as a valid future prospect or if one has to state that common circumstances will remain maintaining the Status quo.