Answer

Importance of the Topic

This topic is important in the sense that it confirms a hypothesis that was earlier outlined by Samuel Huntington. He hypothesized that the main source of conflict in our modern world would be due to cultural differences as opposed to ideology and economic status of different countries (Huntington, 1993, p.22). The terror attacks in Europe act as hard proof of this hypothesis. The terrorism shows great divisions that currently exist between humankind based on culture. These terrorists are linked to Islamic origin while terrorists from European countries are linked to Christianity and Orthodox. The fault lines between these civilizations currently act as the main battle lines in terrorism.

There are eight main civilization in today’s world. They include Confucian, Islamic, Slavic-Orthodox, African, Latin American, Western, Hindu and Japanese civilizations (Huntington, 1993, p.25). The differences that exist between these civilizations are real and majorly based on religion and traditions. The increased cases of terrorism in Europe by Muslim origins places the existing differences between Islamic and Western civilizations on the spot. This topic is thus crucial since it shades light on the relevance of cultural difference to the clash of modern civilizations.

Hypothesis

H₀ – Terror attack in Europe confirms the clash of civilization thesis.

This hypothesis is supported by the patterns of international terrorism that is currently in existence globally. This case is particularly revealed between the Islamic civilization and the West (Neumayer & Plümpr, 2009, p.1). The bombings in Madrid, and London specifically confirm the existing clash of the West and Islamic civilizations. The western forces that are hostile to Islamic civilization currently identify Muslims as their enemies and classify their approach of curbing terrorism as Islamic fundamentalism (Dunn, 2006, p.4). Over the years, there has been alienation of many Muslims in Europe most of which are descendants of immigrant families. This has created a lot of resentment from Christian Europeans who have openly embraced populist anti-immigrant parties (O’Brien, 2016, p.201). Such cases can be attributed to the increased terrorist attacks based on cultural differences.

Methodology

I will apply phenomenological method in conducting qualitative research on this topic. It will comprise an objective, formal and systematic processes of obtaining information about the rise of terrorism in Europe (Marshall, & Rossman, 2014, p.22). Through this method, I will be able to examine and establish the relationship between cultural differences and the rise of terrorism in Europe. It will enable me gain greater insight, richness and explore the significance of cultural difference between Islamic and Western civilization on increased terrorist acts.

Currently, there are well established examples of terrorism that directly relate civilization clash to Muslims and Christian European differences. Some of these examples are Paris terror attack and Terror attack in Catalonia. The terrorists legitimized the attack by claiming that they were redeeming Prophet Muhammad’s honor (Mishra, 2015, p.1). Such utterances show the increased clash between Islamic and Western cultures. In relational, Dunning (2016) argues that the terrorist may at times consider their acts as defending their civilization against barbarian rule, in this case, the Western rule (52).

Over past few years, there has been an increased amount of interaction between Islamic and Western culture due to technological advancement and e-commerce. With these increased interactions, there is also rise of terrorism acts performed by Islamic sympathizes in Europe. New trends are seen from the fact Islamic countries are becoming part of the war on terror (Sundeep Waslekar Strategic Foresight Group Mumbai, 2004, p.2). However, all terrorist attacks in Europe have been linked to Islamic origin. This confirms Huntington’s hypothesis that cultural differences between Islamic and Western civilization is the main cause of these terrorist attacks.(2017) study employed, there are very little room for generalizing the study’s findings.