The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation, and of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rand Corporation.

This book was first published in 1992 at the collapse of Soviet Union, and the heyday of Western nations. It argued that western liberal democracy is the only viable model now that all other competitors such as Soviet marxism have failed. This was written well before the rise of China.

It influenced a sense of complacency in the West as there was no competitor on the horizon in 1990s. This book is a record of the mindset at that time and why and how political evolution stopped, leading to our current political dysfunction.

It is more relevant today as the western liberal democracy itself is facing existential crisis.

This book is a classic book and essential reading for all those interested in political history, and the current existential crisis of western liberal democracy.

"Mr. Fukuyama should not be blamed for this brain damage. He wrote a subtle, sophisticated and nuanced essay. However, few Western intellectuals read the essay in its entirety. Instead, the only message they took away were two phrases: namely “the end of history” equals “the triumph of the West".

End of History

Author builds on Hegels 'End of History' phrase. "It meant, rather, that there would be no further progress in the development of underlying principles and institutions, because all of the really big questions had been settled".

People should focus on economics(making money) rather than politics and history.

"a remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a system of government had emerged throughout the world over the past few years, as it conquered rival ideologies like hereditary monarchy, fascism, and most recently communism. More than that, however, I argued that liberal democracy may constitute the 'end point of mankind's ideological evolution' and the 'final form of human government,' and as such constituted the 'end of history'".

"That is, while earlier forms of government were characterized by grave defects and irrationalities that led to their eventual collapse, liberal democracy was arguably free from such fundamental internal contradictions. This was not to say that today’s stable democracies, like the United States, France, or Switzerland, were not without injustice or serious social problems. But these problems were ones of incomplete implementation of the twin principles of liberty and equality on which modern democracy is founded, rather than of flaws in the principles themselves".

"Both Hegel and Marx believed that the evolution of human societies was not open-ended, but would end when mankind had achieved a form of society that satisfied its deepest and most fundamental longings. Both thinkers thus posited an “end of history”: for Hegel this was the liberal state, while for Marx it was a communist society".

"there is no economically necessary reason why advanced industrialization should produce political liberty. Stable democracy has at times emerged in pre-industrial societies, as it did in the United States in 1776.

On the other hand, there are many historical and contemporary examples of technologically advanced capitalism coexisting with political authoritarianism, from Meiji Japan and Bismarckian Germany to present-day Singapore and Thailand. In many cases, authoritarian states are capable of producing rates of economic growth unachievable in democratic societies".

Flawed hypothesis

Francis Fukuyama hypothesis in this book has proved to be flawed. It has also done a lot of harm.

The author also acknowledges in the Afterword to the Second Paperback Edition that "In the seventeen years that have passed since the original publication of my essay, 'The End of History?', my hypothesis has been criticized from every conceivable point of view".

He also tries to "restate the original argument, to answer what I regard as the most serious objections that were raised to it".

He also adds: "There is no question that if you look around the world, there has been a broad Muslim exception to the overall pattern of democratic development that you see in Latin America, in Europe, in Asia, and even in sub-Saharan Africa."

Prof. Kishore Mahbubani says: "There is no doubt that the West has contributed to the return of Asia. Several Asian societies have succeeded because they finally understood, absorbed and implemented the seven pillars of Western wisdom, namely free-market economics, science and technology, meritocracy, pragmatism, culture of peace, rule of law and education".

"Notice what is missing from the list: Western political liberalism".

Prof. Mahbubani adds "The general assumption in Western minds after reading Mr. Fukuyama's essay was that the world would in one way or another become more Westernized. Instead, the exact opposite has happened. Modernization has spread across the world, but it has been accompanied by de-Westernization".

Time has proved Francis Fukuyama wrong. Prof. Kishore Mahbubani says: "One prediction I can make confidently is that the Western footprint on the world, which was hugely oversized in the 19th and 20th centuries, will retreat significantly".

"Respect for Western ideas will remain, but respect for Western practices will diminish".


As Prof. Kishore Mahbubani says, "Francis Fukuyama's famous essay 'The End of History' may have done some serious brain damage to Western minds in the 1990s and beyond".

Western liberal democracy is no longer the preferred or successful model. "Respect for Western ideas will remain, but respect for Western practices will diminish".

"The seven pillars of Western wisdom, namely free-market economics, science and technology, meritocracy, pragmatism, culture of peace, rule of law and education" found a new home in SE Asia.




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