In the early 1990's the American academic, political commentator and government advisor, Francis Fukuyama, leapt to prominence with his argument that society had entered a new and lasting phase. He claimed that the change was so dramatic that it might be accurately depicted as representing the end of history. Fukuyama derived his argument from the writings of Kant, Hegel and a critical reading of Marx. This new phase represented the worldwide triumph of liberal democracy with the collapse of Communism. History has ended in the sense that there is no more room for large idealogical battles. This first book, is an in-depth discussion of Fukuyama's influential argument, it is both lucid and thorough. In addition it relates Fukuyama's theory of history to Karl Popper's criticism of historicism and attempts to denote the connection between Fukuyama's account of history, and that of the Christian religion.The book concludes by assessing the impact of Fukuyama's work upon the philosophy of history and its importance in evaluating the recent course of international relations and US foreign policy.
