tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132520298120231193.post411040882185156256..comments2023-12-23T02:10:09.875-05:00Comments on howl at pluto: Samuel P. Huntington, 1927-2008LFChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13551197682770555147noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132520298120231193.post-54516779883713754932009-01-03T20:00:00.000-05:002009-01-03T20:00:00.000-05:00I've now read the official obit again, and wou...I've now read the official obit again, and would make a couple of remarks by way of addition. Best known today for the clash-of-civilizations thesis and his '04 book on U.S. national identity, Huntington was involved in a couple of earlier episodes (for lack of a better word) that, at least around the time when I was in college, seemed to have set back his reputation (in some circles at any rate). One was his stance on and quasi-official (advice-giving) role during the Vietnam War; the other was his '75 report to the Trilateral Commission, written w Michel Crozier and Joji Watanuki, which famously referred to the problem of 'democracy overload'.<BR/><BR/>I never took a Huntington course (regrettably) and have no more than the most cursory acquaintance w his work. But I can testify that he was not someone who was esp. admired by leftish and left-liberal undergraduates in the mid/late '70s. That may reflect more on said undergraduates than it does on Huntington, who according to the obit was very willing to engage w viewpoints that differed from his own. Hindsight is 20-20, and if I could roll the clock back a few decades & have a do-over, I probably would take a Huntington course.LFChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551197682770555147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132520298120231193.post-42061023689036002382009-01-03T13:24:00.000-05:002009-01-03T13:24:00.000-05:00You're welcome. (I haven't read the Times piece ye...You're welcome. (I haven't read the Times piece yet, and I want to go back and read the Harvard obit again, more carefully.)<BR/><BR/>A purely anecdotal, serendipitous measure of Huntington's influence: I picked up the Fall 2008 issue of Dissent in a bookstore the other day, glanced at the lead article (Ignacio Walker, "The Three Lefts of Latin America") and right there on the first page is a reference to "Samuel Huntington's account of the three waves of democratization."LFChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551197682770555147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-132520298120231193.post-47934697829255826152009-01-03T09:27:00.000-05:002009-01-03T09:27:00.000-05:00Thanks for the link. I thought the Times piece on...Thanks for the link. I thought the Times piece on him (maybe it was just AP) was disappointing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com