END OF HISTORY

End of History

End of History

Introduction

The End of History is the first book of the American philosopher and political scientist Francis Fukuyama, released in 1992, published by Free Press. The End of History argues that the liberal democracy, Western-style spread in the world shows the end point of socio-cultural evolution of mankind and the formation of the final form of government (Francis, 1992, 45)t. This paper identifies whether thesis of Fukuyama (end of history) convincing today or not?

Thesis Statement

The end of history does not mean the end of the event-driven stories, but it means the end of the century of ideological struggles, global wars and revolutions, and with them - the end of art, philosophy, etc.

Discussion

In support of his thesis, we can note that there is now more universal and legitimate alternative to liberal democracy. There are still many authoritarian regimes but none are truly capable of asserting a principle of legitimacy independent of the people. The idea of the end of history can not be considered an original. The most famous of its promoter - is Karl Marx, believed that the historical development, determined by the interaction of material forces, has a purpose and end, just reaching the communist utopia, which would resolve all the contradictions. However, this view of history - as a dialectical process with a beginning, middle and end - was borrowed by Marx from his great German predecessor, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Almost all authoritarian regimes are now referring to their alleged claim to democratic legitimacy, or that democracy is the goal but in the immediate factors beyond their control necessitate the maintenance of the dictatorship. Similarly, there is no valid alternative to the capitalist system today and even communist regimes officially participate in the system. But this empirical observation is obviously not enough (Jacques, 1994, 7). To demonstrate that liberal democracy is the ultimate political form of humanity, we must show that the dynamics of human history and human behaviour should lead us to liberal democracy.

It's a fairly ambitious project that attempts to demonstrate Fukuyama in two stages. In the first part we will look for a meaning to history. Two key factors demonstrate to him that history necessarily has a meaning: the war and science. States have for centuries lived in a state of permanent insecurity. To survive we had to adapt and in particular, once an innovation entailed ultimately a military advantage for one, all others were to follow on pain of death. War is a powerful technological and institutional innovation by forcing states to continually find new techniques and methods to combat and the necessary resources to fight. But from the fifteenth century, the emergence of the scientific method is shaking things up. Technological innovations made possible by science provide significant benefits to those who find them and adopt them as soon as possible (Morton, 2005, 115). But science does not develop in a vacuum; it is embedded in a society with a particular cultural and economic ...