Date of Publication : July 2026

Abstract: Cultural conflicts are galore in modern nation states in the form religious rivalry, ethnic divisions, caste conflict, language hegemony and the like. In the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ of Samuel Huntington jr. whose arguments are severely contested, the main theme is cultural conflict between the Western and Eastern civilizations. He argues that differences in culture and religion create differences over policy issues ranging from human rights to environment. His thesis is that civilization identity will be increasingly important in the future and the world will be shaped in large measure by the interactions among seven or eight civilizations A state aligned to either a cultural or religious majority could sustain itself only by subjugating the cultural minorities however defined –in religious, linguistic or ethnic terms The subjugated minorities try to assert their identity through aspiring for a separate state and the state in turn seeks to melt the minorities into a culturally homogenous national society.

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