[lit-ideas] Re: Fukuyama and the End of... well...
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:30:56 -0800
Fukuyama claims his ideas didn't evolve, but that the other Neocons took the
Neocon movement off in a wrong direction. Furthermore the Neocon name was
taken even further by non-neocon critics until it became a synonym for Bush
policy which deviated markedly from Fukuyama's views.
I read Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man in 1999 and liked it.
I read his America at the Crossroads this month and didn't like it.
Fukuyama claims that his ideas haven't changed and I have to accept that
although it does seem as though his ideas have changed. Since his End of
History is theory I can't insist that a policy I think logically follows
from it ought to have his blessing. He intended it to be a prediction of
the future and never intended it to be policy that should be implemented.
He has no problem with advocating policy, voting to remove Saddam Hussein
from office, for example, but never for going to war to promote Liberal
Democracy. He doesn't think Iraq can be turned into a Liberal Democracy as
we are attempting. I gather he might agree with Paul Berman who in Terror
and Liberalism argued that every self-respecting Liberal should want to get
rid of Saddam Hussein. His problem wasn't in getting rid of Saddam Hussein
but in imagining that it was possible to export Democracy. Certain elements
need to be present in a society (as they were in Germany and Japan after
WWII) before a society can accept democracy. Those elements were not
present in Iraq. He doesn't think it impossible that Iraq will develop a
successful democracy, just that it is extremely unlikely.
Fukuyama sides with Gilles Kepel and Olivier Roy about the nature and size
of the enemy. They all think the enemy that Fukuyama calls the Jihadists is
small. I don't believe he is right about this but expect to see his ongoing
comments about Iraq in his new Journal, The American Interest which I
subscribed to.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Robert Paul
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 12:18 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Fukuyama and the End of... well...
Lawrence wrote:
> I believe the letter Fukuyama signed during the Clinton administration
> called for "regime change" and not for invasion. There was a law past
> during the Clinton administration calling for Regime Change in Iraq and
> Clinton signed it. People called for Regime Change without wanting an
> invasion. Condi Rice got $95,000,000 from congress to support a Regime
> Change in Iran.
'In Mr. Fukuyama's case, the criticisms suggest a marked evolution in
perspective. In 1998, Mr. Fukuyama signed a letter sponsored by Project
for the New American Century urging the Clinton administration to take a
harder line against Iraq, and in the days after the terrorist attacks of
9/11 he signed another from the group, which asserted that "any strategy
aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a
determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
'In the wake of the Bush administration's enunciation of a doctrine of
pre-emption and its big-shouldered, go-it-alone approach to foreign
policy, however, Mr. Fukuyama began to voice concerns. In an op-ed
article in The Washington Post published on the second anniversary of
9/11, he warned that "overreaction to Sept. 11 will lead to a world in
which the United States and its policies remain the chief focus of
global concern," also saying that "the tremendous margin of power
exercised by the United States in the security realm brings with it
special responsibilities to use that power prudently." '
[From Michiko Kakutani's review of Fukuyama's book yesterday, in the
NY Times.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/books/14kaku.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(I think that one has to register with the Times to read the complete
review. I'd be glad to email it to anyone who'd like to see it.)
Robert Paul
Reed College
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