Francis Fukuyama, "The end of history?"

In his essay, "The end of history?" Francis Fukuyama states, "the triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western Liberalism. In the past decade, there have been unmistakable changes in the intellectual climate of the world's two largest communist countries, and the beginning of significant reform movements in both." He goes on to say that "we may be witnessing not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

I'm afraid i have to disagree with Fukuyama. Although democracy may ultimately be what most countries strive to achieve, I don't think that mankind has reached the end point of ideological evolution. Fukuyama paints a picture of a world where democracy takes over and everyone is content. There is no such thing as a perfect society. Democracy will never be flawless; there will always be those that are or at least feel oppressed in some way. There will always be a desire for change, for the next revolution. Mankind's ideology won't die because there will always be those that aren't satisfied with the way things are.

Towards the end of the essay, Fukuyama offers potential alternatives to the end of history. One of the most interesting parts was in Section III. The end of this section poses "the other major 'contradiction' potentially unresolvable by liberalism is the one posed by nationalism and other forms of racial and ethnic consciousness." I think that nationalism and connections based on ethnic and/or cultural lines are very powerful-- powerful enough to drive people to take action against repression. Even in the United States, one of the largest "democracies" in the world, one can witness what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as the three pillars of evil: militarism, racism, and poverty. These evils cause people to seek equality through change. If these can be found in a nation that prides itself on equal and fair treatment of all citizens by granting them unalienable rights, imagine what happens in other countries that are still working the kinks out of their attempts at democratic governments and those that have governments with no democratic ties whatsoever. Fukuyama also acknowledges in Section V "that terrorism and wars of national liberation will continue to be an important item on the international agenda." I would argue that this is enough to constitute large-scale conflict involving large states. I do not think that these clashes seem to be disappearing. I believe these tensions are impossible to get rid of and because of that, there will always be those trying to find new ways to gain freedom. By doing so, these people hold the responsibility of keeping history alive and perpetuating human ideology.