Blair Versus Huntington, Questionnaire Example

I disagree in part with Blair’s assertion, as reported by David Brooks in the New York Times article. I think I am more a Huntingtonian, again in part and as his view is reported by Brooks. The era of nation-states has certainly notpassed, nor does it look anything like it will pass anytime soon. I’m not aware that the U.S. in on the brink of embracing Mexico and blending its culture on the basis of shared values, and I doubt even more that Mexico (“So far from God and so close to the United States”) is interested either. And yet we do have shared values. The entire world has shared values. It has had them from the time of the first trade-route.

Trade — business — is the original world-wide shared value, and is the only real one today. Even hermit kingdoms like North Korea need some trade and have to protect and expand that trade. The trick is to do so without sacrificing too much of who and what your nation-state (or city-state, as was the case before nations came along) is and wants to be. (Britain’s American colonies failed that test when they imported slaves to get rich at the expense of liberty.) Today’s headline-controversies about globalization assume that it is something new. But it isn’t new at all. Empires, whether based on outright conquest or through trade (or both) are globalization in action. So is Facebook. No one is seriously considering shifting away from the view of a trade- and communication-interdependent world, although after World War II, Albania and (again) North Korea came closest in practice. Their model is not scheduled for adoption by the world.

The unique aspects of any culture worth preserving are just that: its unique aspects. Language, social customs, indigenous manufacturing, indigenous clothing are examples. Japan’s culture successfully assimilated Western ways while preserving its old ones. Few others have.

What we can learn from Brooks’ article is the danger of accepting at face value the pronouncements of newspaper columnists writing under deadline. But then I also learned about Samuel Huntington, whom I had not heard of. If Brooks is correct, I’d side with Huntington.