[lit-ideas] Re: Fukuyama and the End of... well...
- From: "Simon Ward" <sedward@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 22:55:59 -0000
I asked: What are the possible policy implications of a theoretical tendancy?
Lawrence replied: I tend to lose a bit of respect for a theorist who won't take
some sort of responsibility for those putting of his theories into practice.
Fukuyama, akin to Marx, was arguing that nations will tend towards liberal
democracy. Where Marx held that capitalism would, through crisis, move towards
socialism, Fukuyama denied the possibility of a fatal crisis. In other words
history would stop with liberal democracy. The end of history was therefore a
double play with words, since, it has been said, Marx invented economic history.
The point is that Fukuyama was not putting forward policy suggestions. His
outlook was, from the capitalist standpoint wholly positive in its support for
globalisation. Don't worry, he was saying, the world is moving towards liberal
democracy. What he wasn't saying was that Governments should intervene in the
process and pre-empt the process.
I read somewhere today that Bush is to Fukuyama and Lenin was to Marx. It
seemed especially apt.
Simon
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