A Brief Analysis of Fukuyama's Thesis

A B R I E F ANALYSIS O F FUKUYAMA'S THESIS " T H E END O F H I S T O R Y ? " Selcen Ö N E R * ÖZET Makalede Francis Fukuyama kısaca tanıtıldıktan sonra, 1989'da yazdığı "Tarihin Sonu" makalesi, makalede temel vurgulanan konular ve çelişkili yanla rı tartı§ılıyor. Ardından makalenin tartışmalara yol açması üzerine 1992'de yaz dığı "Tarihin Sonu ve Son İnsan" kitabında savunduğu temel noktalar belirtilerek, makaleyle karşılaştırmalar yapılıyor. Anahtar Kelimeler: Tarihin sonu, ilk insan, son insan, Batı liberal demokrasisi. ABSTRACT Brief look at the profile of Francis Fukuyama. Discusses Fukuyama's article "The End Of History?" which was written in 1989, at the end of Cold War in an optimistic atmosphere. The main contradictions, shortcomings, early and genera lized conclusions of this article, in explaining the post Cold War world are discus sed. This article is compared with the book "The End of History And The Last Man", which was also written by Fukuyama. Main arguements that were stated in this book are also discussed. Key Words: the end of history, Western liberal democracy, first man, last man, thymos, struggle for recognition A. INTRODUCTION Francis Fukuyama, is a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation. He is also a fellow of the John Hopkins University, School for Advanced International * İ.Ü. İktisat Sosyolojisi Anabilim Daiı Araştırma Görevlisi. 94 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF FUKUYAMA'S THESIS "THE END OF HISTORY?" Studies' Foreign Policy Institute. He is a political scientist who specializes in Middle- Eastern political-military affairs and the foreign policy of the former Soviet Union. He has held different positions over the last 15 years, with Rand and with the US Department of State. He has written widely on issues relating to Soviet foreign policy in the Third World and on questions of democratization and political economy. 1 He wrote his famous article The End of History?'in 1989 in an optimistic atmosphere, during the collapse of Socialist regimes which was symbolised by the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. He declared the ultimate victory of liberal democracy and argued that "it may constitute the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the final form of human government and as such constitute the end of history." In his article, he celebrated the victory of liberalism over all other ideologies, stating that liberal states were more stable internally and more peaceful in international relations. 2 He wrote his book The End of History And The Last Man', in 1992, in order tcrrespond to the critics othis article and to defend his main thesis. In his book, he explains why he wrote his article The End of History?'. Also he made a lot of references to historical processes, philosophers' ideas and what he means by the concept of 'history.' In 1999, he wrote his article 'Second Thoughts', which was also published in 'National Interest' at the tenth anniversary of the publication of the article The End of History'. In this article, he accepted his failure about his reference to modern natural sciences, in his 1989 article. B- " T H E END OF HISTORY?" This article was written in 1989, in a period of unpredictable changes in the history. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, socialism, Which is the main threat and alternative to liberalism was defeated. In this newly occurring situation, he wrote his article, without examining this process in detail and with its multi-dimensional aspects. At the beginning of this article, he briefly summarizes his main argument as follows; victory of economic and political liberalism occurred at the end of 1 2 ht^://www.edveniure.com/pcforum/96pcf/speakers/fukuyama.html Davutoglu, Ahmet, "The Clash of Interests: An Explanation of the World (Dis)order", Perceptions, December 97-February98, p.92 : 95 SELCEN ÖNER the 20th century. The victory of the West and Western idea is evident firstly with the collapse o f systematic alternatives to Western liberalism. He states that, in the past decade, there have been important changes in the intellectual climate of the world's two largest communist countries(Russia, China) and reform movements have begun in both. Also it can be seen in the spread of consumerist Western culture. As a result of these indications, he reaches to his main idea: "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War or the passing of a particular period of post-war history; that is the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization o f Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." But as we see from the beginning, he states his arguments without a strong basis and with a lack of evidence. 3 After expressing his main arguement, he makes some references to Marx, Hegel and Kojeve. He says that his main concept 'the end of history', is not an original concept. This concept was firstly used by Hegel. According to Hegel, history is a dialectical process, with a beginning, a middle and an end. On the other hand, Marx, believes that, the direction of historical development was a purposeful one and would come to an end with the achievement of a communist Utopia that would finally resolve all prior contradictions. 4 He was affected especially by Hegel's historicism. According to this perspective, mankind has progressed through a series of primitive stages of consciousness, on his path to the present. Hegel believes that, at the end, rational form of society and state became victorious. According to Hegel, history came to an end in 1806 with Napoleon's defeat of the Prussian monarchy at the Battle of Jena which symbolised the victory of the ideals of the French Revolution. At that point, the vanguard o f humanity actualized the principles of the French Revolution. But particular regimes in the real world might not implement these ideas fully. After stating these references, Fukuyama explains his own opinions. According to him, the state that emerges at the end of history is liberal, democratic, recognizes and protects man's universal right to freedom through a system of law. Fukuyama, also makes references to Kojeve, who is a modern French interpreter of Hegel. For Kojeve, this so-called 'universal homogenous state' is realized in the countries of post-war Western Europe. 5 3 Fukuyama, Francis, "The End of History?", The National interest, Summer89 Fukuyama, Francis, "The End of History?" 5 Ibid. 4 96 A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF FUKUYAMA'S THESIS "THE END OF HISTORY?" ÎPukuyarna explains the evolution process of human history as follows; human history was based on the existence of contradictions; as it can be seen in the primitive man's search for mutual recognition, contradiction between master and slave. But in the universal homogeneous state, all prior contradictions are resolved and all human needs are satisfied. There is no conflict over large issues and no need for generals or statesmen, what remains is primarily economic activity. So he states (...truncated)