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Keywords

strategic interests, geopolitics, civilizations, world powers

Abstract

Given the on-going crises around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine, it has become imperative to analyze the strategic interests of the major geopolitical players in the world. Samuel P. Huntington formulated his controversial “Clash of Civilizations” thesis almost thirty years ago, but this topic has received a resurgence of interest due to Christopher Coker’s research on “civilizational states.” Coker takes this concept a bit further by arguing that different geopolitical actors disagree on how the world should be ordered.

Now is perhaps the most opportune time to examine the relevance of civilizations as well as civilizational theory to the inter-disciplinary field of Strategic Studies. This would bring together insights from such fields as geopolitics, grand strategy, military analysis, and global security analysis to bear upon civilizational science and analysis. This would be further achieved through the study of Civilizational Ontology, to determine how best to understand civilizational contexts regarding geopolitical and strategic actors. It would expand previous research conducted regarding civilizations and threats of “hybrid warfare.”

Although a major goal of this synthesis of Civilizational Sciences and Strategic Studies would be to assist in the proper analysis of on-going current (and possible future) events, it would also be vitally important to the study of historical case studies. Carl von Clausewitz famously declared “War is a continuation of politics by other means.” This paper builds upon the argument that strategy and civilizations are reflections and continuations of one another.

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