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Just heard Samuel Huntington passed away. Fitting for a guy who was so inspired by his work but found himself utterly lost afterwards.

SH is one of the few political philosophers who is lucky enough to see his grand predictions proven in his life time (Toffler is a one hit star in comparison). I never read his “The Soldier and the State”, but heard enough about it. His next book, “Political Order in Changing Societies”, shock-and-awed me. Migdal said the same book inspired his generation to refocus on the State. To me, it was the Order part that is still reverberating. His quote of Lipperman at the beginning of the book is one of those things that you can read thousands of different ways into it.

Then comes the “Clash of Civilizations”. Many people tangled over the “Clash” theme but it was the “Civilization” dimension that distinguished Huntington. It is ironic that the author of the proposition against which Huntington argues in the book, Francis Fukuyama, wrote the blurb on the cover. Is it a token of submission or respect? I don’t know.

I am about to read his thesis on immigration. This choice didn’t come naturally but since it is Huntington, I’d read it even if he says he talked to Jesus.