“Hypocrisy, double standards, and "but nots" are the price of universalist pretensions. Democracy is promoted, but not if it brings Islamic fundamentalists to power; nonproliferation is preached for Iran and Iraq, but not for Israel; free trade is the elixir of economic growth, but not for agriculture; human rights are an issue for China, but not with Saudi Arabia; aggression against oil-owning Kuwaitis is massively repulsed, but not against non-oil-owning Bosnians. Double standards in practice are the unavoidable price of universal standards of principle.”

—  Samuel P. Huntington

Source: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), Ch. 8 : The West and the Rest: Intercivilizational Issues, § 1 : Western Universalism, p. 184

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Hypocrisy, double standards, and "but nots" are the price of universalist pretensions. Democracy is promoted, but not i…" by Samuel P. Huntington?
Samuel P. Huntington photo
Samuel P. Huntington 36
American political scientist 1927–2008

Related quotes

Hubert H. Humphrey photo

“We can't use a double standard — there’s no room for double standards in American politics — for measuring our own and other people's policies. Our demands for democratic practices in other lands will be no more effective than the guarantee of those practices in our own country.”

Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978) Vice-President of the USA under Lyndon B. Johnson

Address to the Democratic National Convention http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/huberthumphey1948dnc.html (July 14, 1948), Convention Hall, Philadelphia.

Xi Jinping photo

“We don’t need ‘masters’ that dictate to other countries, let alone politicizing and turning the human rights issue into a tool, practicing double standards and interference in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights.”

Xi Jinping (1953) General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and paramount leader of China

"Xi Jinping Defends China's Human Rights Record Amid Accusations Over Uyghur Camps" https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/china/xi-jinping-defends-chinas-human-rights-record-amid-accusations-over-uyghur-camps-articleshow.html in Republic World (25 May 2002)
2020s

Addison Mizner photo

“…talking as though the Standard Oil Company was the smallest thing he owned.”

Addison Mizner (1872–1933) American architect

From his sketchbook

“I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.”

Robert A. Hall (1946) American politician

I'm Tired (February 19, 2009)

George Carlin photo

“It's the old American Double Standard, ya know: Say one thing, do somethin' different. And of course this country is founded on the double standard, that's our history! We were founded on a very basic double standard: This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)

“Few talk or think about Iraq these days; the media ignores this important but demolished nation. Iraq, let us recall, was the target of a major western aggression concocted by George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Britain’s Tony Blair, and financed and encouraged by the Gulf oil sheikdoms and Saudi Arabia.”

Eric Margolis (journalist) (1942) American journalist
Rahul Gandhi photo

“India is the Saudi Arabia of human resources for the 21st century. The power that we used to get from oil in 20th century, we will get it from people like you in 21st century.”

Rahul Gandhi (1970) Indian politician

Rahul Gandhi: India is going to be 21st century Saudi Arabia, Rahul Gandhi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOZOM0lROs

Hugo Chávez photo

“If the United States was mad enough to attack Iran or aggress Venezuela again the price of a barrel of oil could reach $150 or even $200.”

Hugo Chávez (1954–2013) 48th President of Venezuela

Opening remarks at the OPEC Summit, November 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7100175.stm
2007

Saddam Hussein photo

“The oil is a gift bestowed by God on the Arab nation, to use after centuries of poverty, backwardness and servitude — in raising its living standards, developing its economic, social and cultural conditions, and building up its own power to meet the challenges and conspiracies besetting it.”

Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) Iraqi politician and President

President Saddam Hussein's Speech on National Day (1981)

Ha-Joon Chang photo

“The history of capitalism has been so totally re-written that many people in the rich world do not perceive the historical double standards involved in recommending free trade and free market to developing countries.”

Ha-Joon Chang book Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism

Prologue, p. 16
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Related topics