From its appearance in 1993, the theory of the «clash of civilizations » of the political scientist Samuel P. Huntington has turned into one of the most spread and debated. In this article, after a meticulous reading of the book of Huntington, a series of fundamental critiques are presented to his paradigm for the global politics: his closed conception of the civilizations, his negative vision of the cultural diversity, his cultural relativism, etc. To end up by defending an alternative paradigm for the international relations: that of an intercultural dialogue based on the universal nucleus of the democracy and the human rights.