Samuel Huntington is making a comeback.

In his 1996 book The Clash of Civilisations, the American political scientist deeply divided academic opinion by arguing that culture, rather than ideology, would drive post-Cold War conflicts. In 2019, the British political theorist Christopher Coker wrote that the contemporary concept of the ‘civilisational state’ serves as a real-world evidence of Huntington’s core thesis. According to Coker, culture, rather than ideology, has become the primary currency of international politics.

Indeed, Coker’s observation was the outcome of the increasing use of the term ‘civilisational state.’ But it was originally coined by American political scientist Lucian Pye in 1990. He viewed China not as a nation state in the European tradition but rather “a civilisation pretending to be a nation state.”

In 2009, the British academic Martin Jacques wrote that the West continues to misread China by treating it purely as a nation state. He asserted China must be understood as a civilisational state with different cultural values compared to those of the West. So what exactly is a civilisational state?

As the post-Cold War order fragments, countries such as China, India and Pakistan are increasingly defining themselves not as nation states but as heirs to ancient civilisations

As the post-Cold War order fragments, countries such as China, India and Pakistan are increasingly defining themselves not as nation states but as heirs to ancient civilisations

Briefly put, it is a country that claims to represent not just a specific territory or linguistic group, but an entire, distinct civilisation. It stands as the antithesis of the standard nation state. The latter was a European concept, where political borders are designed to align neatly with a single national identity.

The idea of the nation state is barely three-and-a-half centuries old. It........

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