Fukuyama and liberal democracy: the ends of history

Fukuyama'a work has had an uneven reception - dismissed as lightweight and applauded by American conservatives and part of the British left. His work is remarkable for the combination of national security concerns with Big Questions, but underneath the Hegelian gloss it is a conventional restatement of American belief in liberal democracy. Liberal democracy therefore is the focus of this inquiry. First the argument of Fukuyama's essay is compared with that of his book. Next his argument on liberal democracy is examined in relation to three problem areas: liberalism and its exclusions, liberalism and democracy, liberalism and imperialism. Converting history into ideas and divorcing ideas from social actors are main weaknesses of Fukuyama's argument. A major limitation of liberal democracy is that it is conceived in a nation state framework, which holds global concerns at bay and thus blocks the further global extension of democracy.