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America at the Crossroads by Francis Fukuyama
- Abstract
In 1989 Francis Fukuyama wrote an article, “The End of History?,” that made him famous. Like George Kennan four decades earlier in “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” another famous article, Fukuyama managed to grasp the essential features of a newly opened chapter in human history before most observers had recognized its existence. His thesis—that liberal democratic capitalism represented the highest form of social development and was destined to spread throughout the world—was embraced by some, attacked (and often misinterpreted) by others, but became overnight an indispensable part of the intellectual toolkit of anyone trying to make sense of the post-cold-war world.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Fukuyama has used the past fifteen years to produce a body of work remarkable for its scope and seriousness. After expanding his article into a book, The End of History and The Last Man (1992), he turned to such topics as the role of culture in economic growth (Trust, 1996), the impact on advanced societies of the movement from industrial to information-based economies (The Great Disruption, 2000), and the implications of the biotech revolution (Our Post-Human Future, 2003).
About the Author
Aaron L. Friedberg teaches politics and international affairs at Princeton. From 2003 to 2005 he served in the office of the Vice President as deputy assistant for national-security affairs. He is writing a book about the U.S.-China rivalry.
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