• Peter Katzenstein
• Slow TV

In his lecture at Sydney Ideas, Peter Katzenstein, one of America’s leading political scientists, offers a critique of the Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilization theory (the theory that conflict between distinct groups based on religion and cultural identities (eg Western, Islamic, Sinic) is inevitable, and will dominate in the post cold–war period). Katzenstein argues that emphasis on the unity and uniformity of different civilizations and hence on sharp differences among civilizations is misguided, and that civilizations are better thought of in pluralist terms; We should concentrate on studying encounters and engagements among civilizations. Peter J. Katzenstein is the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University and President of the American Political Science Association.

Presented by Sydney Ideas and the United States Studies Centre, March 2010

Part 1

Part 2