A Study On Huntington's Conservative Political Thoughts

Conservatism is one of the mainstream political ideas in the West.It is generally regarded as the main constraint of liberalism.It originated from the reflection of liberalism,advocated a prudent and gradual approach to reform,and opposed radicalism.The famous American political scholar Samuel Huntington is widely regarded as the representative of neoconservatism.Unlike traditional conservatism,Huntington's conservatism is a positional conservation philosophy that always changes with the changing of historical conditions.He believes that conservatism is always related to a specific historical situation and exists to maintain the rationality of the degree of customization.Under this definition,no matter what kind of situation the society is in,the fundamental mission of conservatism is to maintain the existing social order.In general,Huntington's conservative political thought has undergone two major transformations.The first change was the transition from authoritarianism to democracy,and the second change was the transition from pluralism to nationalism.In the early works The Crisis of Democracy and Political Order in Changing Societies,Huntington showed obvious authoritarian tendencies of conservatism.He advocated temperance democracy and emphasizes order stability.But in The third wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century,Huntington showed a democratic tendency.The second transformation took place after the 1990 s.The end of the Cold War made important changes in the international situation.Cultural identity became the theme of global politics.However,under the same political theme,Huntington showed a completely opposite attitude.In The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of World Order,Huntington showed a tendency towards pluralism,and in Who are We,Huntington hasshown a tendency towards nationalism.Taking these two transformations as clues,this paper analyzes the specific content of Huntington's conservatism before and after the transformation,and believes that the deeper reason for its transformation is that Huntington's conservatism is an "instant and immediate conservatism philosophy".Therefore,in different historical situations,different tendencies are exhibited.From the 1960 s to the 1990 s,the theme of international politics changed from chaos in the world to democratization.The United States also shifted from the frequent occurrence of social movements to a state of stability.At the same time,the diplomatic situation facing the United States has also undergone certain changes.In this context,Huntington's conservative political thought shifted from authoritarianism to democracy.After the end of the Cold War,the issue of cultural and cultural identity became the theme of world politics.The rise of multiculturalism caused conflicts among major civilizations in the international arena,and caused problems of national identity in the United States.In order to safeguard the national interests of the United States,Huntington showed a tendency of pluralism in the context of international culture,and showed a tendency of nationalism in the cultural background of the United States.Although Huntington's conservatism political thought has a strong imprint of the times,it also has inherent coherence.The prudent and constantly reflecting attitude,realistic thinking and "instant and immediate" characteristics,all of them can bring us some inspiration.