Francis Fukuyama. The End of History and the Last Man

Year: 2004

Author: Francis Fukuyama

Translator: Trans. from English. M.B.Levina

Category: Study

Publisher: M .: OOO «Publishing ACT: NPP" Ermak "

ISBN: 5-17-021219-4, 5-9577-0843-7

Series: Philosophy

Russian Language

Format: PDF

Number of pages: 89 (in the book variante588)


Description: "The End of History and the Last Man" - one of the most famous works of modern and futurist philosopher Francis Fukuyama, which became an international bestseller and was translated into dozens of languages.

From the author

The distant origins of this book lie in the article entitled "The End of History?", Which I wrote in 1989 for the magazine "National interest" 1. In it, I argued that in recent years around the world an unprecedented consensus emerged on the subject of the legitimacy of liberal democracy as the system of government, and that consensus grows stronger as defeated rival ideology hereditary monarchy, fascism and last - communism. Moreover, I insisted that liberal democracy can be an "end point of mankind's ideological evolution" and "the ultimate form of government in human society", thus becoming "the end of history." This means that while earlier forms of government were characterized by defects and irrationalities incorrigible, eventually leading to their collapse, liberal democracy was allegedly deprived of such fundamental internal contradictions. This statement does not mean that stable democracies such as the US, France or Switzerland, deprived of injustice or serious social problems. But these problems are related to incomplete implementation of the twin principles of liberty and equality, not with defects of the principles themselves. Although some modern countries can fail in an attempt to reach a stable liberal democracy, while others can go back to other, more primitive forms of government, like theocracy or a military dictatorship, but the ideal of liberal democracy can not be improved.