ABSTRACT

In Scandinavian countries, the law forbids professional boxing, and in other Western European countries there are discussions about such a law, while in the United States, the same sport is big business. In one country, defence expenditure is several times the amount of money other countries are willing to spend for this purpose. Often the latter category makes relatively more money available as aid to developing countries. What causes these differences and is there any link with the rise of violence and conflict? The answer to this question has to do with the differences between national cultures, which indeed have a presumably large influence on the rise of conflict and violence in the world. So, whereas the emphasis in the foregoing chapter was on the historical development of violence, in the present chapter, we deal with the varying levels of violence originating from current differences between national cultures. This focus has become important since the famous political scientist Samuel Huntington announced that the world was going to see a ‘clash of civilisations’. In other publications, he has also emphasised the importance of cultures and values in explaining developments in the world. 1