Two U. profs criticize Harvard scholar's article

Two University professors turned last Tuesday afternoon's forum entitled "Are the Culture Wars International?" into a critical evaluation of world-renowned scholar Samuel Huntington. Criticizing a controversial article of Huntington's -- which was published several years ago -- Legal Studies Professor Ann Mayer called it a "gross over-simplification." Mayer, along with Political Science Professor Ian Lustick, spoke to more than 40 students in Steinberg-Dietrich about the Harvard professor's theories. Huntington's article warned that world-wide cultural war is inevitable, proposing that an end to the Cold War would cause a fracturing of nations along cultural lines. In his article, Huntington identified nine separate cultures between which these splits would ultimately occur. While the article was received with a great deal of skepticism in academic circles, it has nevertheless become popular among many international leaders, Lustick said. One audience member pointed out that Huntington's article had received worldwide attention when it was published and has actually been used by radical Islamic groups to justify their anti-Western agenda. In a humorous attack on the theory, Lustick called the notorious article "intellectually primitive" and suggested that Huntington may have had ulterior motives when he wrote it. He noted that with the demise of the Soviet Union, Huntington -- one of the premier Cold War political scientists -- needed to find a new enemy. Throughout her presentation, Mayer stressed that Huntington had confused the governments of these other civilizations with their underlying cultures. "The realities are far too complex to meet with Huntington's simplistic stereotypes," Mayer said. The forum was sponsored by the International Studies Program.