[lit-ideas] Fukuyama and Democracy Promotion
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 09:51:17 -0700
At the Johns Hopkins website under "faculty" is a page for Francis Fukuyama
that lists his recent books, but it also lists a "video of Francis
Fukuyama's speech to the Foreign Policy Association, 'What Do We Know About
Democracy Promotion?" Hunter College, May 24 2005."
http://www.sais-jhu.edu/faculty/fukuyama/ This is an excellent video,
showing Fukuyama at his best and covering many of the issues we have been
discussing.
In regard to The End of History and the Last Man, I continue to fail to find
any support for Andreas allegation that Fukuyama opposed Liberal Democracy
or that he favored a war every generation or so. The Video shows that
Fukuyama does support Liberal Democracy, but he does see more problems in
achieving Liberal Democracies than most of us are comfortable with
considering.
I found one passage in The End of History and the Last Man that might enable
Andreas to assume that Fukuyama was advocating frequent wars. It occurs on
page 329:
"Hegel - as opposed here to his interpreter, Kojeve - understood that the
need to feel pride in one's humanness would not necessarily be satisfied by
the 'peace and prosperity' of the end of history. Men would face the
constant danger of degenerating from citizens to mere bourgeois, and feeling
contempt for themselves in the process. The ultimate crucible of
citizenship therefore was and would remain the willingness to die for one's
country: the state would have to require military service and continue to
fight wars.
"This aspect of Hegel's thought has led to the charge that he was a
militarist. But he never glorified war for its own sake, or saw it as the
chief end of man; war was important for its secondary effects on character
and community. Hegel believed that without the possibility of war and the
sacrifices demanded by it, men would grow soft and self-absorbed; society
would degenerate into a morass of selfish hedonism and community would
ultimately dissolve. Fear of man's 'lord and master, Death' was a force
like no other, capable of drawing men outside of themselves and reminding
them that they were not isolated atoms, but members of communities built
around shared ideals. A liberal democracy that could fight a short and
decisive war every generation or so to defend its own liberty and
independence would be far healthier and more satisfied than one that
experienced nothing but continuous peace."
This is Hegel's view and the reason Fukuyama refers to it is that it is one
of the main objections to Liberal Democracy that he is considering in
section V. Will Liberal Democracy continue to provide what he refers to as
megalothymia? The Last-Man milieu is one in which all men are equal, but
will all men be satisfied with that? The answer is no. Men will want to be
unique, be different, be best at something. People have self-esteem
(thymia) that in its extreme expression results in megalothymia. Hegel
argued that this was exemplified in the great generals or military leaders
who won great battles. Fukuyama sees this megalothymia being expressed in
Liberal Democracies by entrepreneurs. Think of Donald Trump and Bill Gates.
Think of the Japanese entrepreneur's that sublimated the Samurai Bushido
code into the impetus for their business successes.
Hegel thought wars would be needed for perfect health, but his interpreter,
the one upon whom Fukuyama relies, Kojeve, did not. In a footnote 1 in
Chapter 31, Fukuyama writes "Hegel in the Philosophy of Right states very
clearly that there will still be wars at the end of history. On the other
hand, Kojeve suggests that the end of history will mean the end of all large
disputes, and hence the elimination of the need for struggle. . . ."
Fukuyama complains that Kojeve didn't provide his reasons for this opinion,
and in attempting to provide for their absence he has written Section V, but
Fukuyama isn't able to achieve the certainty that he sees in Kojeve.
Lawrence
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