"The End of History and the Last Man" by Francis Fukuyama is a
book published in 1992 (expanding on an essay published in 1989) arguing that
the end of the Cold-War marks the endpoint of the development of human history.
Fukuyama draws heavily on the Philosophy of Hegel and its interpretation
by Kojeve. Hegel,
to summarize, saw history as evolving through conflict between opposing ideas (Hegelian dialectics of
thesis, antithesis and synthesis). Kojeve translated this highly influential line
of thought into an argument holding that the final condition of humanity's
socio-political order is a homogeneous state ruled by a single victorious
ideology. This will mark the end of ideology (and therefore of history) since such
a society will be, according to Kojeve, a "post-political" society which
won't be divided by ideological differences.
In "The End of History and the Last Man" Fukuyama sees the end
of the Cold-War and the fall of the Berlin Wall as marking the end of
ideological conflict with the unchallenged establishment of Western liberal
democracy as the final ideological stage of human evolution. After the
opposition between the liberal West and the communist world was resolved Fukuyama
sees no further direction in which history can go. Hence the end of history is
not to be understood as no more events happening and no more people born of
die, but rather as the final resolution of the tensions which drive history
forwards. The end of history for Fukuyama is the end of the making of history
and human progress in its Hegelian understanding (and by that denying Marx's view of history
which saw the endpoint of history in a global communist society, see for
example The Communist Manifesto).
Fukuyama's thesis in "The End of History and the Last Man" was
heavily criticized by both other historical thinkers and history itself. Most
notable among Fukuyama's critiques is Samuel Huntington in his book "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" (1996) where he explains that cultural forces
will take over ideological forces in shaping global history. Since September
11th 2001 Huntington's critique of Fukuyama's "The End of History" is
proved painfully right, history did not come to its end (see End of History vs. Clash of Civilizations debate)
see The End of History (Fukuyama) Explained
see The End of History (Fukuyama) Explained
Related summaries:
Benedict Anderson - Imagined Communities
Roland Robertson on Globalization in "Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity
Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit
Hegel on Universal Consciousness and Reason
Hegel on the Absolute
Roland Robertson on Globalization in "Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity
Hegel - Phenomenology of Spirit
Hegel on Universal Consciousness and Reason
Hegel on the Absolute