Clash of Civilizations, the Main Conceptual Framework in Understanding Islamophobia

We have seen that Islamophobia is said to be an ‘unfounded hostility towards Islam’. It is some researchers’ contention that they need to rethink this definition, and see Islamophobia not as ‘unfounded hostility’, but a hostility for which reasons may exist. They argue that, it is important to acknowledge that Islamophobic attitudes are rooted into a complex socio-political ideology. Plus in order to engage with the key arguments that shape the conflictual and dialogic models of analysis, one should be familiar with classic texts and contemporary works related to explanatory frameworks. In this article, Clash of Civilizations as one of the most important of these conceptual frameworks will be discussed in detail. First, we talk about theory of Clash of Civilizations and two well-known spokespersons for it i.e. Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington. Then, we’ll explain how this thesis became the main root and foundation of Islamophobia in 2000s and why western media and politicians welcomed this explanatory framework and helped Lewis and Huntington to propagate their theory in public discourse in the last two decades.