Abstract
Events in the post-Cold War world, especially in former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, are forcing international relations scholars to take socio-culturally based identity factors more seriously. International relations frameworks have generally been ill equipped for such analysis, in no small part a function of the resistance of analysts themselves. Samuel Huntington’s widely cited “Clash of Civilizations” is thus challenge at various various including theory, methodology, and preferences. In this article, I argue that neither the dominant realist paradigm nor its familiar critiques are sufficient and competent to analyze the dynamics of identity in the international system. I attempt what might be termed a “plausibility probe” to point out the importance of taking up factors which have hitherto been neglected by realists as well as their challengers.