Reflection Assignment
Francis Fukayama, “The End of History and the Last Man”
Fukuyama presents an argument that at the end of history the world is no longer driven by ideological strife as the fall of the Soviet Union wrought the end of communism as a viable ideology. Fykuyama also asserts that “In the past century, there have been two major challenges to liberalism, those of fascism and of communism… Fascism was destroyed as a living ideology by World War II. This was a defeat, of course, on a very material level, but it amounted to a defeat of the idea as well” (Fukuyama, 10). Fukuyama’s argument ignores the insidious ability of ideology to transmute and manifest in policy that mirrors a particularly dangerous 20th century fascism. Fukuyama suggests that these fascism and communism as viable ideologies were mostly defeated in the 20th century. However, Fukuyama takes for granted the very nature of fascism in particular which has the ability to conform to a particular set of circumstances where populist-ultranationalism sentiments are used to drive a state in a particular direction.
Although the current framework of global affairs is mostly led by liberal democracies …show more content…
Moreover, Fukuyama discredits the Marxist ideological model by noting that in “the past fifteen years have seen an almost total discrediting of Marxism-Leninism as an economic system (Fukuyama, 15). Fukuyama also cites anecdotal evidence from former Soviet émigrés in which he states, “emigres from the Soviet Union have been reporting for at least the last generation now that virtually nobody in that country truly believed in Marxism-Leninism any longer, even the Soviet elite, which continued to mouth Marxist slogans out of sheer cynicism” (Fukuyama,
Francis Fukayama, “The End of History and the Last Man”
Fukuyama presents an argument that at the end of history the world is no longer driven by ideological strife as the fall of the Soviet Union wrought the end of communism as a viable ideology. Fykuyama also asserts that “In the past century, there have been two major challenges to liberalism, those of fascism and of communism… Fascism was destroyed as a living ideology by World War II. This was a defeat, of course, on a very material level, but it amounted to a defeat of the idea as well” (Fukuyama, 10). Fukuyama’s argument ignores the insidious ability of ideology to transmute and manifest in policy that mirrors a particularly dangerous 20th century fascism. Fukuyama suggests that these fascism and communism as viable ideologies were mostly defeated in the 20th century. However, Fukuyama takes for granted the very nature of fascism in particular which has the ability to conform to a particular set of circumstances where populist-ultranationalism sentiments are used to drive a state in a particular direction.
Although the current framework of global affairs is mostly led by liberal democracies …show more content…
Moreover, Fukuyama discredits the Marxist ideological model by noting that in “the past fifteen years have seen an almost total discrediting of Marxism-Leninism as an economic system (Fukuyama, 15). Fukuyama also cites anecdotal evidence from former Soviet émigrés in which he states, “emigres from the Soviet Union have been reporting for at least the last generation now that virtually nobody in that country truly believed in Marxism-Leninism any longer, even the Soviet elite, which continued to mouth Marxist slogans out of sheer cynicism” (Fukuyama,