Liberal Democracy as the End of History
Francis Fukuyama claims that liberal democracy is the end of history. This book provides a theoretical re-examination of this claim through postmodernist ideas.
The book argues that postmodern ideas provide a valuable critique to Fukuyamas thesis, and poses the questions: can we talk about a universal and teleological history; a universal human nature; or an autonomous individual? It addresses whether postmodern theories concerning the movement of time, what it means to be human, and what it means to be an individual/subject can be accommodated within a theory of a history that ends in liberal democracy.
The author argues that incorporating elements of postmodern thought into Fukuyamas theory makes it possible to produce a stronger and more compelling account of the theory that liberal democracy is the end of history. The result of this is to underpin Fukuyamas theory with a more complex understanding of the movement of time, the human and the individual, and to show that postmodern concepts can, paradoxically, be used to strengthen Fukuyamas theory that the end of history is liberal democracy. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of political theory, postmodernism and the work of Francis Fukuyama.
Chris Hughes currently teaches at the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester, UK.
Routledge Innovations in Political Theory
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2 Rational Woman
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3 Rethinking State Theory
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4 Gramsci and Contemporary Politics
Beyond pessimism of the intellect
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5 Post-Ecologist Politics
Social theory and the abdication of the ecologist paradigm
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6 Ecological Relations
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9 Civil Society and Democratic Theory
Alternative voices
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Between critical theory and post-marxism
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12 Multiculturalism, Identity and Rights
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A cosmopolitan case for the World State
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14 Democracy, Nationalism and Multiculturalism
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15 Political Reconciliation
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16 National Cultural Autonomy and Its Contemporary Critics
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17 Power and Politics in Poststructuralist Thought
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27 Political Constructivism
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28 The New Politics of Masculinity
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Fidelma Ashe
29 Citizens and the State
Attitudes in Western Europe and East and Southeast Asia
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30 Political Language and Metaphor
Interpreting and changing the world
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31 Political Pluralism and the State
Beyond sovereignty
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32 Political Evil in a Global Age
Hannah Arendt and international theory
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33 Gramsci and Global Politics
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34 Democracy and Pluralism
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35 Multiculturalism and Moral Conflict
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36 John Stuart Mill Thought and Influence
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38 Autonomy and Identity
The politics of who we are
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39 Dialectics and Contemporary Politics
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40 Liberal Democracy as the End of History
Fukuyama and postmodern challenges
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This edition published 2012
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2012 Chris Hughes
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Hughes, Chris (Christopher)
Liberal democracy as the end of history: Fukuyama and postmodern challenges / Chris Hughes.
p. cm. (Routledge innovations in political theory; 39)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. DemocracyPhilosophy. 2. Liberalism. 3. Postmodernism. 4. Fukuyama, Francis. End of history. 5. HistoryPhilosophy. I. Title.
JC423.H835 2011
321.8dc22
2011014160
ISBN: 9780415669054 (hbk)
ISBN: 9780203802175 (ebk)