The political and geopolitical dimensions of civilizations have become a major CCR theme in the 2010s and 2020s. The framework draws on Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations (1996) but extends it through civilizational-state theory, the Thucydides Trap (Graham Allison), and the comparison of civilizations as geopolitical actors.

In v65, Mariana Tepfenhart’s “Right-wing Extremists in Europe” examines the rise of right-wing extremism in Europe as a civilizational phenomenon. In v66, Ruan Wei’s “Geo-Civilization” argues for a geographical-civilizational paradigm. In v68, “War and Peace Conjunctures, An Essay” by Pedro P. Geiger treats war and peace as functions of civilizational conjuncture. In v69, “The Causes of Ethnic Conflicts” examines the civilizational roots of ethnic conflict. In v79, “How to Escape Thucydides’s Trap: A Dialogue Among Sages” engages the question of US-China conflict as a Thucydides Trap and proposes civilizational dialogue as a way out.

In v88, “On Civilizational Strategic Studies” makes the case for treating civilizations as the units of strategic analysis, with sections on Civilizational Ontology Revisited and “East versus West: Beyond the Stereotypes.”

In v92, “Japan’s Chapter II: Renunciation of War, Article Nine” examines the renunciation of war in Article Nine of the Japanese constitution as a civilizational choice. “Limits of Traditional Realism: Geopolitical Civilizational Narratives and Contemporary World Geopolitics” extends the strategic-civilizational framework.

In v94, Nicholas Morieson’s “Civilizational Nationalism and the Rise of the Civilization State: A Response to Stephen Satkiewicz” engages civilizational nationalism as a contemporary ideology. Andrew Targowski’s “Beyond War: Building Wisdom Civilization to Rescue Humanity” proposes civilizational design as a response to the breakdown of the nation-state system.

Laina Farhat-Holzman’s Europe Rethinks Multiculturalism (2014) is reviewed in v92, examining the European multiculturalism debate as a civilizational question.

Source summaries:

  • v65 (Fall 2011) — Mariana Tepfenhart, “Right-wing Extremists in Europe.” (v65)
  • v66 (Spring 2012) — Ruan Wei, “Geo-Civilization.” (v66)
  • v68 (Spring 2013) — Pedro P. Geiger, “War and Peace Conjunctures, An Essay”; “The Causes of Ethnic Conflicts.” (v68)
  • v79 (Fall 2018) — “How to Escape Thucydides’s Trap: A Dialogue Among Sages.” (v79)
  • v88 (Spring 2023) — “On Civilizational Strategic Studies.” (v88)
  • v92 (Spring 2025) — “Japan’s Chapter II: Renunciation of War, Article Nine”; “Limits of Traditional Realism.” (v92)
  • v94 (Spring 2026) — Nicholas Morieson, “Civilizational Nationalism and the Rise of the Civilization State: A Response to Stephen Satkiewicz.” (v94)