Hi Marc--

My buddy Max Manwaring liked to use that term; personally I prefer explanation. I think you are right about Huntington's weakness being explanation (at least I think you cited that as one weakness). It was what I found I didn't like the first time around. But, I was struck with how applicable his identification of the Islamic/Western faultline was and its usefulness as a predictive tool.

I also think you are dead on with regard to the flip side of self-identification - identification by others. That said, I don't think Huntington would dispute the notion that culture, and indeed, civilization, is learned. As one of my anthro profs, David Bidney, put it: Man invented culture; man can change it. (One of the very few memorable things he said in an otherwise disappointing class he taught with politcal scientist Fred Riggs. (Riggs, I should note, said nothing memorable in the class.)

Clearly, Huntington does NOT have a testable theory. And his model is flawed. But, I maintain that there is the core of something there that could be salvaged with promising results.

Cheers

John