Culture shock or complementarity of civilisations ?

In 1997, the publication of ‘The Clash of Civilisations’ by the American professor Samuel Huntington created a great deal of controversy by its suggestions that the 21st century would be the scene of long-lasting conflict between the West and Islam. Some years before, another American professor, Francis Fukuyama, in his book ‘The end of history and the last man’, went even further by forecasting the global triumph of the American political and economic model. What can be said today about the relationship between civilisations ? Philippe Nemo, in his book ‘Qu’est-ce que l’Occident ?’ (‘What is the West ?’), highlights the worldwide contribution of ideas the origins of which lie in Athens, Rome, Christianity, and their subsequent development in the West. Bernard Nadoulek’s view is that seven civilisations – African, Anglo-Saxon, Asian, Indian, Latin, Muslim and Slavonic – will permanently perpetuate themselves. A major return of these civilisations is undoubtedly the surest way of evolving forms of market economy and democracy which are adapted to the values of each of these important cultures.