POLITICS & HISTORY
“There is a coherent and evolutionary process which drives the seemingly random occurrence of events, a process called ‘History’.” FRANCIS FUKUYAMA
to democracy, it would represent the standing still of humanity’s age-old quest for a society in which everyone was recognised. Written in the 1990s, not long after one of democracy’s powerful enemies, fascism, had been defeated in World War Two and its last surviving antagonist, communism, was on its last legs, it’s not hard to see how Fukuyama felt it the right time to announce the end of History. As one can imagine, Francis Fukuyama’s thesis has come under vast scrutiny since publication, with many critics arguing that it was too soon to announce liberal democracy’s triumph. With the rise of power politics and populism, China’s influence and control over Africa and Taiwan, and extremism of various flavours, it seems to be said that History proudly marches on.
are moved from one stage of organisation to another because they have such fundamental shortcomings. While the Russian people moved from serfdom to monarchy to communism, all of these systems were bound to fail on account of their irreconcilable contradictions according to Fukuyama. However, one method of political organisation stands above the rest in his view, liberal democracy. While the countries which employ this ideology often have their flaws, Fukuyama sees the ideals themselves as close enough to perfect. Based on mutual respect under the rule of law, everybody’s dignity is recognised and as such no struggles are required. If this is the perfect political system, there would be no further ideological evolution, as there was from previous systems
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