Francis Fukuyama
This article may be deleted soon. | ||
---|---|---|
Francis Fukuyama (1952–) is an author, government adviser, and academic in political and economic development, especially at the world level. He is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), and the director of SAIS' International Development Program. [1] He is editor of American Interest magazine, and an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute, and is on the boards of the RAND Corporation and the Pardee Rand Graduate School, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Journal of Democracy, the Inter-American Dialogue, The New America Foundation, Evolutionary Psychology, and FINCA. As an NED board member, he is responsible for oversight of the Endowment’s Latin American programs. From 1996-2000 he was Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. IdeologyWhile he was a signatory of the letter from the Project for the New American Century endorsing regime change in Iraq,[2] Fukuyama is not a mirror of neoconservatism or of the George W. Bush Administration. In 2003, he wrote
Fukuyama criticized the concept for being too nebulous, for creating a climate of fear. He pointed out that a "war on terrorism" would imply the U.S. has a role in Chechnya, and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Fukuyama agreed there is benefit to intelligence sharing with Israel, the actual Palestinian problem is principally Israel's local problem. His 2006 book, America at the Crossroads,[4] describes neoconservatism as being a legitimate American political philosophy, but misapplied by the George W. Bush Administration. His view of development differed with that of his teacher, friend and colleague, the late Samuel Huntington, in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order|The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Fukuyama believes " Nation-states and not civilizations remain the primary actors in world politics, and they are motivated by a host of interests and incentives that often override inherited cultural predispositions." Huntington saw a future of increasing cultural conflict. [5] Fukuyama still saw him as the greatest political scientist of his generation. In 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama
Futures researchHe wrote an article in 1989 introducing what he called the End of History model,Social capital is an important part of what he sees as a necessity for an evolved society. [8] Expanding this to book length, he published The End of History and the Last Man,[9] and continues to write and speak on the concept. It is antithetical to the The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order model of his mentor and friend, the late Samuel Huntington. Fukuyama has sometimes been strongly identified with neoconservatism, which has this ideal of liberal democracy, although his position keeps evolving. His argument in his 2006 book[4] posits there was an overemphasis on regime change by the Iraq War, with an assumption that a democratic society would emerge with little effort. He speculates this was an incorrect extrapolation from the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of democratic government in Eastern Europe. Rather than regime change, he still emphasizes democracy promotion, but through means such as foreign aid, assistance with governmance and elections, etc. Government and researchHe was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2005. In 1981-82 and in 1989 he was a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State, the first time as a regular member specializing in Middle East affairs, and then as Deputy Director for European political-military affairs. In 1981-82 he was also a member of the US delegation to the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy. He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation from 1979-1980, then again from 1983-89, and from 1995-96. EducationHe received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Political Science. He holds honorary doctorates from Connecticut College, Doane College, and Doshisha University (Japan). References
|