GPP 591
Taranjit Singh
Critical Analysis - Francis Fukuyama
Middle Class society and perceptions of a declining liberal order
Introduction:
“The Future of History- Can liberal democracy survive the decline of Middle Class? (2012)” by Francis Fukuyama is a well written and intelligently articulated essay explaining the history of rise of the middle class in Europe and its current status in the developed countries. Unlike his stance in his famous essay “End of History?” (1989) in which he declares the victory of western liberalism in the ideological war between Communism and Liberalism, in this essay he raises several threats to the liberal democracy.
The first threat is to the social middle class in the developed countries. This threat comes from the current form of ‘globalized capitalism’ and according to him only a new ideology can save the existence of a strong middle class. This new ideology, he says, must have four political and economic features namely, private property, freedom, democracy and middle class. It should preserve the ideas of democracy, liberalism and capitalism and must be mobilized by the middle class itself to save liberalism from falling.
The other single largest threat to liberal democracy is from China. After the financial crisis of 2008, according to Fukuyama, …show more content…
The demoralized U.S middle class which does not forms the majority anymore and feels threatened by rising unemployment is looking for a scapegoat which it thinks is immigration and globalization. The voting patterns in the U.S elections (2016) show clearly it was the majority of American white males, those 40 years or above in age and without university or college graduate degree who voted for the current President of United States of America, the President who offered an anti-globalization, anti- liberalism and a populistic agenda as the solution for all the internal
Taranjit Singh
Critical Analysis - Francis Fukuyama
Middle Class society and perceptions of a declining liberal order
Introduction:
“The Future of History- Can liberal democracy survive the decline of Middle Class? (2012)” by Francis Fukuyama is a well written and intelligently articulated essay explaining the history of rise of the middle class in Europe and its current status in the developed countries. Unlike his stance in his famous essay “End of History?” (1989) in which he declares the victory of western liberalism in the ideological war between Communism and Liberalism, in this essay he raises several threats to the liberal democracy.
The first threat is to the social middle class in the developed countries. This threat comes from the current form of ‘globalized capitalism’ and according to him only a new ideology can save the existence of a strong middle class. This new ideology, he says, must have four political and economic features namely, private property, freedom, democracy and middle class. It should preserve the ideas of democracy, liberalism and capitalism and must be mobilized by the middle class itself to save liberalism from falling.
The other single largest threat to liberal democracy is from China. After the financial crisis of 2008, according to Fukuyama, …show more content…
The demoralized U.S middle class which does not forms the majority anymore and feels threatened by rising unemployment is looking for a scapegoat which it thinks is immigration and globalization. The voting patterns in the U.S elections (2016) show clearly it was the majority of American white males, those 40 years or above in age and without university or college graduate degree who voted for the current President of United States of America, the President who offered an anti-globalization, anti- liberalism and a populistic agenda as the solution for all the internal