SAMUEL Huntington, an American political scientist, argued as early as 1993 that people's cultural and religiousidentities would be the primary source of conflict in the 21st century. The ongoing conflictbetween Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is a perfect illustrationof his point of view. Huntington, who died last week at 81, achieved famefor his "clash of civilizations" theory. He argued that fights in the new century would be different from those between ideologies, particularly Nazism and Communism, in the 20th century. "My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states," he said last year, after retiring from his six decades of teaching at Harvard University. In 1993, Huntington published an article titled The Clash Of Civilizations? in the magazine Foreign Affairs. It prompted immediate controversy, as many had predicted the end of world wars after the Cold War peace resolution. In his article, Huntington identified eight major civilizations in the world, including the Western, Chinese, Japanese and Islamic civilizations. The West, he said, was "at its peak". He argued that its efforts to promote the values of democracy and liberalism as universal values would only lead to countering responses from other civilizations. The clashof civilizations would, Huntington suggested, be acted out most violently between the West and the Islamic civilization. But Islam's problems would not just be with the West. Violence would also occur between Muslims and other civilizations, such as the Jews in Israel. Religion and culture create boundaries Huntington divided the world into eight major civilizations: 1. Western: centered on North America and Europe 2. Latin America: includes Central America and most of South America 3. Orthodox: includes most of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia 4. Sinic: located chiefly in China, Korea and Singapore 5. Hindu: located chiefly in India and Nepal 6. Japanese: a hybrid of Chinese civilization and older civilizations in northeast Asia 7. Islamic: located chiefly in the Middle East and north West Africa 8. African: located in most parts of Africa Lines of miscommunication Emerging conflict between civilizations as predicted by Huntington. Greater line thickness represents a more conflictual relationship.