After reading the article "The Illusion of Progress: Cords and the Crisis of Modernization in South Vietnam, 1965-1968" I didn't quit see Huntington as deriding modernization, only the way it was being conducted by CORDS. In fact much on Huntington's concerns mimic Inglehart's current ideas on Modernization; that it is based in societal changes in basic values and not in simple infrastructure changes:
From pp 46-7For Huntington, pacification illustrated a point that he had been considering for quite some time -- that modernization was a fact of human development and interaction. Consequently, to theorize an artificial process of development while not respecting the natural path of change missed the point and guaranteed failure
Huntington still seemed to have faith in the principles of modernization. He just did not believe that it could be artificially accelerated.
Bookmarks