Critically in " Clash of Civilizations", Huntington sketches a new world map populated by seven or possibly eight civilizations, rather than one dominated by a geographical heartland. In Huntington’s geopolitical world, the principal threat facing Western civilization is judged to be Islam and its associated territorial presence in theMiddle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Asia. While his understanding of civilization is vague, his depiction of Islamic civilizations as threatening is informed by the published writings of theMiddle Eastern and Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis.